British PM rose to power through lies, unruly attitude

Britain’s soon-to-be-ex-prime minister Boris Johnson has “a long and well-documented history” of evading the truth while acting as if he should be exempt from the normal rules of conduct, a report has highlighted.

“Over the years, he has routinely been described as mendacious, irresponsible, reckless and lacking any coherent philosophy other than wanting to seize and hold on to power,” wrote the New York Times in a Friday news analysis about how Johnson rose through the ranks as a former journalist and politician, insisting, however that he never “fooled anyone about who he really was.”

“People have known that Boris Johnson lies for 30 years,” the article then added, quoting British writer and academic and former Conservative member of parliament, Rory Stewart. “He’s probably the best liar we’ve ever had as a prime minister. He knows a hundred different ways to lie.”

“Mislead, omit, obfuscate, bluster, deny, deflect, attack, apologize while implying that he has done nothing wrong” has been Johnson’s “blueprint for dealing with a crisis” during his tenure as prime minister, his critics emphasize as cited in the article. — “That approach worked for him for years — until finally it didn't.”

The daily further points out, “After a lifetime of swaggering and dissembling his way through one scandal after another on the strength of his prodigious political skills — a potent mix of charm, guile, ruthlessness, hubris, oratorical dexterity and rumpled Wodehousian bluster — Boris Johnson has finally reached the end.”

According to press reports, Johnson’s government experienced scandal after scandal, much of it centered on his own behavior and was censured by his administration’s own ethics adviser after a wealthy Conservative donor contributed tens of thousands of pounds to help him refurbish his apartment.

“There was an almost farcical accrual of embarrassing disclosures about how often Mr. Johnson’s aides (and sometimes Johnson himself) attended boozy parties during the worst days of the COVID lockdown, flagrantly violating rules the country had set for itself,” the daily then noted.

In the end, it added, Johnson’s different explanations for what he knew, and when, about Chris Pincher -- a Conservative legislator accused of sexual impropriety – “finally tipped the scales against him. It was clear that he had once again failed to tell the truth.”

The article also recalled that after helping engineer the downfall of “his competent but lackluster predecessor Theresa May” in 2019, Johnson entered office with an energetic mandate for change.

MG