Boris Johnson interview Radio 4 this morning

[Dusty01]

Did anyone hear this?

I thought it was fascinating. Can't decide what to make of it though.

[PotatoShape]

I heard it. I am a fan of Boris, mainly because I can follow what he is saying, iyswim 😅 I think he could explain anything to the layperson. So, so often with politicians, they open their mouths and a stream of vague, side-stepping buzzwords fall out and I can't follow.
I am a leaver though, so biased.

[bellinisurge]

I did. On the drive into work.
I don't doubt his commitment to Boris Johnson.
He'd better come up with something miraculous on the NI border issue because posh boy schtick doesn't take you over the line.
I'm not ready to abandon hope that no Deal can be stopped. But it's getting close to it.
That doesn't mean I want to stop Leave. I just want to stop No Deal. It's not looking promising.

[caringcarer]

I did not hear interview but am hoping he can get a deal to leave with that will satisfy parliament.

[Cam77]

I think he could explain anything to the layperson. So, so often with politicians, they open their mouths and a stream of vague, side-stepping buzzwords fall out and I can't follow.

He sure could. It would be total BS with no grounding in reality, but he could explain it pretty well in simple terms.

[whyamidoingthis]

@PotatoShape - I am a fan of Boris, mainly because I can follow what he is saying, iyswim

Perhaps you could translate this for then please. I can't make head nor tail of it. It's quotes from him about the UK proposals reported in [https://www.rte.ie/news/brexit-countdown/2019/1001/1079324-boris-johnson/]

"They are not talking about the proposals we are going to be tabling, they are talking about stuff that went in previously," he told the BBC.

"But clearly this is the moment when the rubber hits the road.

"This is when the hard yards really are in the course of the negotiations.

"The difficulty really is going to be around the customs union and to what extent Northern Ireland can be retained within EU bodies at all.

"We're going to make a very good offer, we are going to be tabling it very soon, but there is a difficulty if you try to keep Northern Ireland in a customs union because one of the basic things about being a country is you have a single customs perimeter and a single customs union."

[Dusty01]

I didn't feel he explained much to me on the radio this morning. He was stuttering and umming and arring. I felt quite sorry for him.

The interviewer - Nick Robinson? - was giving him a hard time, quite rightly, I thought. But I felt embarrassed on Boris's behalf. He annoyed me less than he has done in recent weeks as he was less pompous and furious. He did less of his robotic parroting. He seemed, dare I say it, more like a real 3 dimensional person.

I came away feeling more hopeful that if we get stuck with him and the Conservatives the world will not end (and I usually hate the lot of them)... but I don't at all know why. Perhaps it was just that he seemed to be more vulnerable and therefore human and I couldn't imagine that he was doing this whole "We'll leave on 31st October" for all the wrong reasons (as I'm sure he really is).

[onalongsabbatical]

This is what he was saying. Excuse me for paraphrasing/interpreting. We always said that there would be no border in the island of Ireland because we wouldn’t put one up and the EU have said they won’t, so how could there be? We can’t have the backstop because of the DUP, who bought us time in power, and the ERG, who don’t give a stuff about Irish issues. But there are many, many other solutions, just hang on a few years while we try very hard to put all of these marvellous solutions into words. One month before exit; ok, this is what we’ve got. It’s not a border because it’s not on the border. It’s not a backstop. It’s exactly like a border but it’s spread out so it’s actually a solution. Aren’t we clever? The EU just need to agree with it and then we’ll flash it through while no-one’s looking, even though everyone’s looking all the time. Sorted.
That's what I heard. Anyone got a better interpretation?

[Miljah]

so, more coherent than this speech?

Boris? More vulnerable? I expect his cash will provide a nice comfy landing.

[SleepyKat]

Missed it but every single interview I’ve heard he comes across as thick as shit but with a posh accent it seems people think you must be intelligent.

[LordProfFekkoThePenguinPhD]

I can’t stand his loveable bumbling buffoon act. Put a bloody comb through your hair - and you are not Churchill for gods sake.

He couldn’t tell the truth of his life depended on it. He really is the UK Donald Trump. How bloody embarrassing.

[Miljah]

I admit if I watch BoJo these days, it genuinely is through my fingers, like Dr Who in the '70s.

I squirm in embarrassment, praying the next thing he says isn't more bumbling, tousled hair, loveable old chap, just bimbling along- bollocks, spouting incoherent tosh a 10 year old would be pulled up on.

Compare him with say, Blair at the top of his game. Or Obama.

Or are we so far down the rabbit hole we can no longer recognise the absence of statesmanlike speech, from either side of the Atlantic?

[LordProfFekkoThePenguinPhD]

Wasn’t he born in America? Shame we can’t borrow that rule...

[BackInTime]

More bluff, more bluster and very little substance. Nick Robinson was far too easy on him but then we might not be where we are now if journalists on the BBC called him and other Brexiters out every single time they lied.

[lljkk]

I grit my teeth to listen to him. Boris the Sex Pest.

He bald face lies, says anything to squirm out of well-founded objections. Ends up saying stuff that has no substance or grounds in reality. Is a fantasist who knows big words.

[Nonnymum]

I can't believe a word he says because I don't think he even believes it himself. I heard an interview today where he was saying there would be custom checks on the Island of Ireland away from the border, well doesn't that just make another border?
Also he said 'if the EU insists on border checks. Well I'm sorry but it's not the EU that decided the UK shoild leave the Union and the single market. If we are no longer part of the single market. of course there has to be checks but it's not the EUs fault we decided to leave the club!

[Parker231]

He sounds more like Trump every day!

[lljkk]

it was so disingenous today, stuff BJ said.

Talked about the phyto-sanitary zone like it was the Tories brand new clever idea; it's not brand new, it's a convention in Ireland (island) that has been in place for decades.

The PM said that "no nation could tolerate its entirety not being in the same customs union": yet the UK has crown dependencies like Jersey that apply their own systems of VAT & an external tariff. Gibraltar is part of UK territory yet is not within the EU customs union. FFS, there's plenty of precedence for special customs or tariff status within sovereign territory.

[Cam77]

Missed it but every single interview I’ve heard he comes across as thick as shit but with a posh accent it seems people think you must be intelligent.

Pretty much. Hes fine at the sound bites but can’t think on his feet. Half a dozen Errs and Uhmms peppering every sentence.

[merrymouse]

The PM said that "no nation could tolerate its entirety not being in the same customs union"

It's October 2019, less than a month before we are supposed to leave.. He announced his support for Brexit in February 2016, but he still can't explain how the border in Ireland is supposed to work after Brexit. How on earth can anyone have any confidence in him?

[Dusty01]

OK. He was awful. He WAS awful.

I think I was just surprised that after hating him so very much and witnessing his vile performances in parliament - that he was also still human. He sounded like he was anyway, this morning.

But also I don't have as much knowledge about what is going on as many of you do here. However much I try to read - I just can't follow all of it. So it wasn't so apparent to me that he was speaking complete twaddle.