Day: 26 June 2019

Brexit: Johnson says Britain will leave EU on 31 October ‘do or die’

Boris Johnson has hardened his position on leaving the EU “do or die” by the end of October, as hardline Eurosceptics extended their influence on his faltering campaign to be prime minister.

The frontrunner toughened his Brexit stance as criticism continued over his refusal to answer questions about a police visit to his flat following a loud late-night altercation with his girlfriend, Carrie Symonds.

In a round of interviews designed to put the focus back on his EU policy and away from his personal life, Johnson appeared to signal there was an increasing prospect of a no-deal Brexit three months after he would take office.

Johnson first doubled down on his commitment to leaving on 31 October in an interview with Talkradio, saying he was in no way reneging on his firm pledge.

“We are getting ready to come out on 31 October. Come what may,” he said. Asked to confirm this, he added: “Do or die. Come what may.”

He then said he would scrap Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement and seek a completely new deal before then, as minor changes would not satisfy him.

“I mean more than a change,” he said. “It’s got to be, we need a new withdrawal agreement – if we’re going to go out on the basis of a withdrawal agreement.”

Not only has the EU said it will not reopen the withdrawal agreement, but the timetable would be extremely tight as parliament is in recess over the summer and then sitting for about 10 days before party conference season begins. MPs return midway through October, just a few weeks before the deadline.

Johnson then emphasised his position on leaving by 31 October yet again by writing a letter to Jeremy Hunt, his Tory leadership opponent, challenging him to commit to that date “come what may”.

Hunt replied with a dig that Johnson could find out his policy if he turned up to a Sky News head-to-head debate on Tuesday night that Johnson has refused to attend. “Hi Boris, it’s good to talk. But no need for snail-mail, why not turn up to Sky tonight and I’ll give you full and frank answers?#BoJoNoShow,” he tweeted.

Bumbling Boris Johnson takes to the airwaves to lie, lie and lie again

You can see why Boris Johnson’s carers have chosen to mothball him in recent weeks. His decline has been almost total. Johnson never did much care for the past or the future. Every day has always been a tabula rasa, one on which he was free to reinvent himself as he pleased without being bound by any commitments he may have made. Now though, he appears to barely have a present. Unable even to maintain the most basic rules of conversation, his words are just a scattergun of free association.

Nick Ferrari began Johnson’s LBC radio interview with a few easy rapid-fire yes and no questions as if to establish a benchmark for the lie detector. It proved hard work as Johnson was such a shambles he could barely even confirm his name. Was he a coward? That should have been a no brainer. That’s the one thing on which everyone – even his friends – agree. Johnson merely looked confused. The silence was interpreted as a yes on the polygraph.

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Having made some kind of progress, Ferrari moved on to the staged photograph of Johnson and Carrie Symonds in a Sussex garden. Did he know who had taken the picture? “Um… er…,” mumbled Boris. There had been so many photos and so little time. Could he even remember when the photo was taken? A look of panic crossed his face. When you’ve told so many lies, there’s always a danger you might accidentally tell the truth.

Look, said Ferrari, the hair’s all wrong in the photo. It’s much longer than it is now. So this picture was taken months ago. You’ve been taking the public for fools. “Um… er… crikey,” Johnson stammered, trying to rediscover the inner clown tribute act which had proved such a winner in the early years of his political career. The thing about his hair … The thing about him was he was so virile – literally overflowing with spunk at times – that his hair grew incredibly fast and he sometimes had to have it cut two or three times a day.

There was no more coherence from Johnson when listeners were invited to have their say. Especially on Brexit. The man Tory MPs have staked their careers on is literally clueless about Brexit. His ignorance near total. First, he would get the EU to admit the withdrawal agreement was nonsense. Then he’d set up some badger border patrols in Northern Ireland. As for the £39bn, he’d treat it with some creative ambiguity. Much like his relationships. A need-to-know basis.

Boris Johnson Accused Of ‘Thermonuclear Hypocrisy’ In Latest Led By Donkeys Billboard

Boris Johnson has been accused of “thermonuclear hypocrisy” in the latest instalment of the Led by Donkeys poster campaign, over comments he made about Gordon Brown in 2007.

A huge billboard in Bolton is highlighting lines from a column the Tory leadership hopeful wrote 12 years ago, in which he raged at how the UK was getting a new PM without the public having a say.

Brown became PM in 2007 after the resignation of Tony Blair. In response, Johnson wrote:

“It’s the arrogance. It’s the contempt. That’s what gets me. It’s Gordon Brown’s apparent belief that he can just trample on the democratic will of the British people. It’s at moments like this that I think the political world has gone mad, and I am alone in detecting the gigantic fraud.

“They voted for Anthony Charles Lynton Blair to serve as their leader. They were at no stage invited to vote on whether Gordon Brown should be PM… They voted for Tony, and yet they now get Gordon, and a transition about as democratically proper as the transition from Claudius to Nero. It is a scandal. Why are we all conniving in this stitch-up? This is nothing less than a palace coup… with North Korean servility, the Labour Party has handed power over to the brooding Scottish power-maniac.”

Lines from the column now grace two billboards in Bolton with Led by Donkeys asking: “If anyone’s interviewing Boris Johnson today can you ask him about this thermonuclear hypocrisy? Cheers.”

The Secret Barrister dismantles the suggestion that Boris Johnson’s neighbours broke the law

There’s been no shortage of defence for Conservative leadership hopeful Boris Johnson after a disturbing transcriptwas published. It reportedly revealed an incidence of domestic violence towards his girlfriend.

Instead of scrutinising the conduct of our would-be prime minister, some right-wing journalists are targeting Johnson’s neighbours for reporting the incident at all. The Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson has even questioned the legality of them recording the heated row.

However, the author of The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How It’s Broken, has rubbished these claims. And by doing so, they’ve also highlighted what appears to be legal ignorance among some journalists.

Boris Johnson warns MPs of ‘mortal retribution’ if they block a no-deal Brexit

LONDON — Members of Parliament will face “mortal retribution” from voters if they block a no-deal Brexit on October 31, Boris Johnson has said.

Growing numbers of pro-European Union Conservative MPs, such as former Attorney General Dominic Grieve and former Chancellor Ken Clarke, have said publicly that they would support a vote of no confidence in a Johnson-led government to stop it from pursuing a no-deal Brexit later this year.

Their colleague Tobias Ellwood told the BBC’s “Panorama” program that a “dozen or so” Conservative MPs would bring down the government to prevent a disruptive no-deal scenario.

In an interview with the BBC, however, Johnson — the frontrunner to succeed Theresa May as Conservative Party leader and prime minister — said all political parties would face dire consequence if they stopped a Halloween Brexit.

“I think Parliament now understands,” Johnson told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg this week.

“That the British people want us to come out and to honor the mandate that they gave us.

“And I think that MPs on both sides of the House also understand that they will face mortal retribution from the electorate unless we get on and do it.”