How can Boris Johnson be our Prime Minister?

From: Roger PerryDecoy Drive
ISLE OF WIGHT, UNITED KINGDOM - JUNE 27: Conservative party leadership contender Boris Johnson poses for a photograph in front of a Union Jack on a wall at the Wight Shipyard Company at Venture Quay during a visit to the Isle of Wight on June 27, 2019 on the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom. Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt are the remaining candidates in contention for the Conservative Party Leadership and thus Prime Minister of the UK. Results will be announced on July 23rd 2019. (Photo by Dominic Lipinski - WPA Pool/Getty Images) PPP-190628-105619003ISLE OF WIGHT, UNITED KINGDOM - JUNE 27: Conservative party leadership contender Boris Johnson poses for a photograph in front of a Union Jack on a wall at the Wight Shipyard Company at Venture Quay during a visit to the Isle of Wight on June 27, 2019 on the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom. Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt are the remaining candidates in contention for the Conservative Party Leadership and thus Prime Minister of the UK. Results will be announced on July 23rd 2019. (Photo by Dominic Lipinski - WPA Pool/Getty Images) PPP-190628-105619003
ISLE OF WIGHT, UNITED KINGDOM - JUNE 27: Conservative party leadership contender Boris Johnson poses for a photograph in front of a Union Jack on a wall at the Wight Shipyard Company at Venture Quay during a visit to the Isle of Wight on June 27, 2019 on the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom. Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt are the remaining candidates in contention for the Conservative Party Leadership and thus Prime Minister of the UK. Results will be announced on July 23rd 2019. (Photo by Dominic Lipinski - WPA Pool/Getty Images) PPP-190628-105619003

Boris Johnson famously advised that to get people’s attention you should fling a dead cat on the table.

Of course he was speaking metaphorically, at least I think he was, and his current string of promises and absolute assurances look to have landed a number of dead cats before us.

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There is nothing subtle about a dead cat and nothing subtle about Boris’s pitch (if you will excuse the pun) which is blatantly aimed at the self-interest and fixation of a small minority of our population.

That is a dangerous game even for Boris who seems to thrive on excitement and uncertainty.

It may get him the leadership but promises and assurances made now, on dubious evidence with no genuine intention to fulfil will nevertheless be remembered by all.

He may be called to account, but that will be too late and look at the damage he can do in the meantime.

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I suggest that like the cat in Erwin Shrodinger’s box which was both dead and alive until he looked, Boris’s cats may not be dead (i.e. empty promises reneging on which will be both inevitable and relatively harmless so why worry it’s just Boris), but when openly examined shown to be alive with the ability to scratch and wound not just him but all of us.

Remember this is the man who we will be relying on in talks with the grown-ups in Europe.

It is essential that those who are to vote should look and look again in an objective and critical way at all this man is saying and promising and to measure that against his history and the weight of alternative opinion.

Honestly, can you really believe a word he says, and if not how can he possibly be our Prime Minister?

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