Ken Clarke ?
MP, not MEP.
It would be interesting to see the Boris episodes now. Would they be funny with all that has happened since? I found it funny at the time.
There's a few of them (or clips of them) on youtube. Think he was a journo at the time, and its the same act as now, but slightly sinister knowing where we've ended up 15 years later.
Hislop has pointed out that the show also had Ken Livingstone, Ed Balls, Nick Clegg, William Hague, Charles Kennedy, Robin Cook amid a whole host of politicians who never became PM. And that maybe the people who voted for him should be blamed before it falls onto a TV program.
And the obvious solution is not to invite anyone onto the show who might potentially show an inclination to be PM in 20 years time, which is rather difficult to enforce.
edit : I think all his appearances predate being mayor btw.
A good measure of whether a media organisation has an inherent bias is if the criticism of it being biased is all in one direction. For example, to take an extreme example nobody ever complains that the Daily Express is too left-wing and pro-Labour. On that basis the BBC is not biased. It's constantly getting flack from both sides about being biased toward the other. The same goes for RTE. As someone living in Ireland I'm very grateful that we have easy access to both of them.
ITV do news for both Channel 4 and Chanel 5. Same sources the only difference is how it's filtered and presented.
If you have satellite/interwebs then there are lots of other news channels most with their own biases and sacred cows but if a story is big enough they'll all cover it, from their angle. Note US news companies have cut back a lot on overseas staff in lesser countries and get second hand news and updates filtered by US government sources so not what they used to be.
Freesat/SKY on 28E also has Al Jazeera Quatar / France 24 / RT Russia / Bloomberg TV US / NHK World Japan / CNBC US / Ariang TV Korea / TRT World Turkey / GB News - some like CNN US have to be added manually
If you have Hotbird on 13E you get English language news from DW Germany / Euronews French / CGTN China / BBC World (rose coloured glasses filter out a lot of UK politics and has ads.) / i24News Israel
And not forgetting RTE news when they aren't on holidays over Christmas. They also do TG4 news.
Things getting increasingly shaky for Johnson. Cummings alleged earlier today on his blog that Johnson knew in advance of the No.10 drinks party, and now a Downing Street source has told Sky News that this version of events is correct - all of this would suggest that Johnson lied to Parliament last week (presumably a resigning offence under normal circumstances).
He may well survive this of course, but it must be becoming increasingly obvious to the English public that the guy is a pathological liar and deeply untrustworthy,
Serious long game on this leaker tbf.
According to noted pro tory site the Independent about a third of prosecutions of any kind, against women were for TV license evasion, yep its a diversion tactic from Boris, but for once The Tories may have got it "right".
Who knows what will come, but the BBC in its current guise can't continue.
There is speculation that if Sue Gray tries to exonerate Johnson in her report, Cummings will make a show of her and release even more new damaging info about Johnson straight afterwards (which puts her in a right spot if she's thinking of clearing him).
BJ has a track record of being fired from jobs for bullsh!tting so anyone who actually cares about his lying already knew about it long ago. This is really a case of the gov't finally hitting a raw nerve with the British public.
I bet a lot of people dont know what his previous jobs are other than mayor of London and HIGNFY guest so I reckon a lot of people who care about the PM lying dont have a clue what he was sacked for or even that he was sacked
Some awesome heckling here of Andrew Bridgen: https://www.facebook.com/watch?v=633867397925031
Basically, a sign-holder with NSFW signs walks behind Bridgen while he weasels answering questions, then heckles audibly.
The difference being though, Johnson cultivated an intentionally comedic, disarming personality that was trying to charm and flatter those who might have otherwise seen through the charade. Yes you had various politicians of differing reputations and controversies, but you can tell a mile off these were charm offensives - ideas born from PR teams trying to "humanise" a stuffy politician. Look at me, self-deprecating and game for a tease. None were being as overtly strategic and duplicitous with Johnson and his persona. It wasn't just HIGNFY either; you had your various stunts pulled when he was Mayor, such as getting stuck on the zipline, or that time he rugby-tackled a child. All part of the brand. Silly Boris, sure what harm is he really? Oh god he's now the PM.
Is Cumming's angle in all of this just a personal vendetta after he got the chop? I find him a very hard individual to trust, and have no real faith that this is being done for the "right reasons".
That said, long may it continue for now!
Agreed. The problem is that appearing on the BBC gives respectability, even on a comedy panel show. It gave Johnson the opportunity to promote himself as a figure of fun instead of the ruthless ambition we came to know him for. Jacob Rees-Mogg has appeared on the same show and appeared as the same Jacob Rees-Mogg we know him as.
I think it's just 100% spite driving him at this stage. He's taking down Johnson (and his wife) and he doesn't care what it costs him. Either he's rational enough to know that he's so toxic that he's never going to work at the highest levels in politics again or he's bypassed his rational brain due to the amount of anger and bitterness against his mortal enemies - either way the result is the same.
If he succeeds, he'll have first dibs on the HIGNFY presenter job for life (though maybe that's why Boris is cutting the TV License).
I find him a very hard individual to trust
I reckon it's not just you, and for that reason maybe this
Dominic Cummings says he raised his concerns about the 20 May 2020 event in the Number 10 garden directly with Boris Johnson and would "swear under oath this is what happened".
does not carry as much weight as it would coming from someone else.
So the guy that very publicly broke restrictions was at the time very concerned about the optics (hehe) of people breaking restrictions
The fact it’s Dominic Cummings saying these things may be a help to Boris Johnson because he’s not exactly clean in breaking rules set by the government he worked for.
Did anyone see the interview Boris Johnson did today ? I’ve seen quotes and it reads poorly and not in a way that helps clear up the mess.
Has Johnson ever given an interview that cleared up anything. It's usually just "spiffle spafflle rah rah spaff it misquoted Shakespeare spoff sploff"
Cummings reveals he will be formally giving evidence to Sue Gray - things getting really dicey for Johnson now.
Full interview (video) here
Shorter version here
Generally Beth has asked the tough questions there and said what a load of people in the UK are thinking.
He's basically just on step 4 of the narcissists paryer. Can't wait for when he gets to step 6 and tries blaming everyone else.
He is wealthy enough himself and I think his wife is also from a family of great wealth so long term he will be fine.
Its much more though than Cummings up to devilment , leadership rivals , civil servants etc. It wasn't done previously but as he is weak may as well go in for the kill.
Cummings was a huge fan of Sunak and spoke highly of Raab and Gove previously, so probable those guys will be providing plenty of incentives to keep this up.
Isn't he also big into political and economic chaos theory so stirring sht up and messing with the "system" is just what he believes in. Remember his weird job adverts for wierdos and misfits or his involvement in Brexit.
Don't dump GIF's here please. Post removed.
Loathes the civil service as from his POV, its a blob and waste of money.
