It’s undeniable that Boris Johnson looks set to become our new prime minister, much to the disgust of parts of the nation. He’s become a highly controversial character throughout his time in mainstream politics and has come under greater scrutiny from parts of the media as he inches closer to claiming the keys to 10 Downing Street.
When Theresa May resigned as leader of the Conservative Party, she also left her post as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. By triggering a leadership contest the general election odds suggest that we could be on the verge of a general election.
The truth will set you free
Comparisons have been made between BoJo and “fake news” specialist Donald Trump, and it’s a scary thought that two of the leading leaders of the free world could very well be people who are economical with the truth.
When allegations surfaced that he made up a quote from historian Colin Lucas, who happened to be his godfather, The Times sacked him. Although Johnson put it down to a schoolboy blunder, The Times weren’t prepared to reverse their decision.
That isn’t the only occasion that Mr Johnson had been sacked from a job for lying. Back in 2003, Conservative leader Michael Howard gave Mr Johnson two jobs – party vice chairman and shadow arts minister. In November 2004, Mr Johnson reassured Mr Howard that reports he had an affair with a Spectator columnist were false, but after they were discovered to be true, he was sacked from both roles.
A comedy of errors
If his skirting of the truth isn’t enough to believe that Johnson isn’t fit to become the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, then perhaps his gaffe-filled career might.
Appearing on the popular BBC One political panel show – Have I Got News For You – Mr Johnson admitted that he may have taken cocaine in the past, but he claimed it might have been icing sugar and that he sneezed so it didn’t go up his nose.
In an informal game of rugby in Tokyo, Boris Johnson, ran down the pitch and as a young ten-year-old schoolboy was about to tackle the politician, he was flattened. Mr Johnson apologised to Toki Sekiguch afterwards.
Pitiful politics
Between his stints as Mayor of London and Foreign Secretary, it’s easy to find examples of Mr Johnson’s poor political decisions. As Mayor of London, he oversaw initiatives which cost the public decent sums of money, including the £300,000 spent on water cannons. There was also the garden bridge project, which cost a staggering £53.5 million without a single brick or foundation being laid.
But by far his biggest blunder in politics occurred when he was the Foreign Secretary. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was visiting family in Iran when she was arrested by members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. The reasons for her arrest vary, but when she was sentenced to five years in prison, it was for “allegedly plotting to topple the Iranian regime.”
Mr Johnson had the chance to help Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s case in November 2017, he made things much worse by saying “When we look at what Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was doing, she was simply teaching people journalism, as I understand it, at the very limit.”
As part of Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s defence, she said she was there on holiday to visit family, Mr Johnson’s intervention makes a claim on the contrary and it was something used by the Iranian regime as evidence. It really was the worst thing he could possibly have done and proves just why he is not fit to become prime minister.