to think Eddie Mair went too far

[BagWoman]

with Boris on The AM show?

Normally I love Mair- but I found his grilling and assassination of Boris most unnecessary.

Boris is right- who cares about what happened with a piece he wrote years ago etc etc.

A totally wasted interview IMO.

eh? Why cowardly teatrolley? It's hardly the most wildly controversial thread.

Yes, teatrolley - why am I 'cowardly'? That sounds a bit like a personal attack - ummmmmmm that's not allowed. Naughty teatrolley.

That call.

Yes, very relevant - a 3 year old article discussing a telephone call 30 years ago where absolutely nothing happened. SHOCKING!

I wonder how many of our esteemed politicians take part in phone calls where those issues are actually discussed, though, Mimi? Shows the nature of the beast I fear. And that's very relevant I think, given that Boris is trying to cast himself as a loveable guy.

This is all about exposing the man he really is, and I say hurrah to that. (And yes, MoreBeta, I think other politicians should also be subject to the same scrutiny)

Have you read the transcript, becauseimworthit? It strikes me as the kind of conversation you'd have with an old friend who is feeling desperate and you're trying to calm him down, sometimes going along its the thoughts he's having, other times trying to veer him away from being stupid.

And it w 30 years ago and he didn't do it!

BecauseImWorthIt:- well I'm afraid it sets a very dangerous precedent - if it's now considered acceptable for journalists to bring up extra-marital affairs and 30 year old telephone conversations as proof of an individual's lack of 'integrity' then this is the tip of the iceberg and, pardon the pun, a very slippery slope indeed.

In all honesty, nobody needs to go back 30 years in the hisotry of Boris to confirm our worst fears about him. Chancer, self promoting, do any thing for a fiver con artist. He got lucky with the Olympics. He will run out of luck and in the fullness of time all his dark arts will catch up with him. Boris thinks rules don't apply to him, the mild eccentric floating around in the margins. It is important to remind ourselves of his potential, to not get sucked into his circus act.

"Mr Johnson then revealed that he had approached four people to try to get Mr Collier's details, only two of whom he could fully trust. "If it got widely known that he'd been beaten up, it would inevitably get back to the contact I've used," he said."

Beckandcall don't you find yourself seriously questioning Johnson's judgment here. What Guppy was planning to do was have someone beaten up which is just plain wrong from any angle. If a friend told me he was planning to do this I might try and understand why he was so desperate. I might even sympathise with his plight. I might try and think of other ways of resolving the situation. But I would tell him first and foremost that I thought he was doing something really really wrong and foul and disgusting. Using force in any context is wrong. Guppy wanted to to do it to prevent a journalist publishing a true story about him, i.e. to suppress a free press.

I would not try and approach four people to see if I can get hold of the journalist's home address, then get cold feet and only appear to withhold the information from my friend because I was scared about how this would make me look.

I'm tired of being told that there is some kind of statute of limitations about how we should judge the integrity of public figures. There isn't. If Boris Johnson wants to be treated as a credible public figure now he either has to explain why he thought that was a decent way to handle the situation then, which he has failed to do. Or he has to accept that anyone who thinks beating people up or assisting people in beating people is a scummy thing to do will think less of him when they hear about this.

I think less of him.

lolaflores said: chancer, self promoting, do any thing for a fiver con artist.

YABU someone needs to get through to the people fawning over this vile piece of work that he is not lovable, or a buffoon, but is openly and repeatedly dishonest, manipulative, has appaling attitudes towards women.

Not fit to run a bath let alone a country. If this interview opens people's eyes a little bit to see past the bumbling charming old toff act then this can only be agood thing.

Strong accusations there PetiteRaleuse - 'openly and repeatedly dishonest, manipulative, has appaling (sic) attitudes towards women.' Please don't feel in any way obliged to back your assertions up with any kind of proof will you? laughs

I'm sick of the idiots who fall for Johnson's posh Fred Scuttle act.

He is an untrustworthy, toweringly ambitious lightweight.

Knew I'd spelt that wrong :o

What proof do you want? We all have access to the same press. We all watch him squirm his way through interviews. It is plain to anyone who stops simpering for a moment and actually watches and listens to him.

Very talented bloke, highly intelligent, and charming. But Unfortunately also everything I mentioned in the last post.

limitedperiodonly said: I'm sick of the idiots who fall for Johnson's posh Fred Scuttle act.

What proof do I want? Proof specifically that he's 'openly and repeatedly dishonest, manipulative and has appaling attitudes towards women' ..... links will do fine.

I watched the interview for 5 minutes and found it very tedious. Eddie Mair just kept going on and on about whether Boris Johnson would stand as Conservative PM. He got very aggressive about it, demanding to know and getting very shirty about it when Johnson was evasive. But why does Johnson need to answer this question, its not a crime to be indecisive or wait and see? Who cares about this question anyway? I switched off.

As regards calling him a "nasty piece of work", I missed that bit - but to me such an insult is inexcusable. It is aligning Mr Johnson with something almost satanic or psychopathic. I think its actually a disgusting thing to say to someone, completely lacking in respect and actually abusive.

mimi I was trying to keep it brief.

But isn't the debate about Johnson's fitness to run a major world city and ambitions to lead the Conservative Party and possibly become Prime Minister?

That's a chance he might actually get because idiots fall for his lovable buffoon act instead of looking at his record. Some Conservative MPs look at how popular he is with voters who fail to use a critical eye and are wondering if there's any way to ditch Cameron before the next election.

I don't like Dave either, but this is a debate about Johnson's fitness for public office, not his.

So, I think the allegations raised again by Mair and tonight's documentary are worth another airing.

But for something more current we could look at the fiasco of the negotiations between the London Legacy Development Corporation, chaired by Johnson, and West Ham United over the Olympic Stadium.

Because of poor negotiations by the LLDC most of the £150 million cost of converting the stadium will be borne by the public purse.

Meanwhile Johnson's team's equally poor negotiations with Barclays mean that the bank's sponsorship covers only a sixth of the cost of the Boris Bikes we see the tow-headed rascal careering around town on.

Bike, tube and bus fares have gone up by an above-inflation rise of an average 4.2 per cent in part because of poor management by the Mayor's team.

We're all paying for Johnson's casual approach to detail. I don't expect the Mayor to personally negotiate every deal but I do expect him delegate to people of competence, to keep an eye on the figures and to carry the can if it goes wrong.

I'd also like his sacking of former Met Commissioner Ian Blair looked at. I used to think Blair was an idiot because I believed the image of him presented in the papers.

But since Leveson I realise he was not only right about a lot of things, but targeted by newspapers who wanted to get rid of him in case he upset their illegal payment system to officers over which there are now a number of charges.

Johnson btw dismissed the whole phone hacking business which led to the discovery of bribery of public officials as 'an inverted pyramid of piffle' before having to climb down.

Wonder why he wanted to support powerful newspaper proprietors, defend illegal activity and collude in the smearing of a senior police officer who threatened it?

Mimi55 with regards to his self promotion, suspeneded on a zip wire for 5 minutes whilst waving flags and generally looking like a prat, more than happy to let the press take pics of him. Lovely fuzzy Bozzer. It was a stunt plain and simple.

Reusing the stunt he perfected on Have I got News for You of his phone going off, only for it to reoccur several other times including in the House of Commons

Swapped sides when Conrad Black was in the dock. the same newspaper magnet that promoted Boris endlessly,

As to his low view of women, female members of the London Assembly have lodged official complaints about his offensive conduct.

Please tell me how he has benefited transport in London? Is the Boris Bike scheme a true success? Have London's pollution levels significantly reduced?

All we have in Boris is a clown

I'm afraid I disagree - what Boris does with his 'chap' is of no concern to anyone except himself, his wife and the person who's on the receiving end of it. Mair was wrong to bring it up. As with the 30 year old phone conversation - an irrelevance, a diversion, an opportunity for Mair to smear. The comment 'you're a nasty piece of work' is Mair's opinion, not fact, and as such does not belong in a supposedly serious heavyweight interview. It's a crying shame Mair didn't choose to discuss the issues you've raised so eloquently instead preferring to concentrate on News of the World style sensationalism and muckraking.

Mimi55 do accept that we have supplied the evidence you so wanted to see. That is enough grounds for EM to roast the little sod and show him up as the chancer, self promoter and professional cute hoor that he is.

Please do not make me think about Bozzers chap...please.

Lolaflores: You mean Boris had the NERVE to be suspended on a zip wire for 5 minutes whilst the press took pictures of him and millions of people worldwide took the mickey? How very DARE he. Hang him. It's an outrage.

Re: clown - well that's your opinion of course, I disagree obviously, and I wouldn't be so foolish as to dismiss someone capable of winning a scholarship to one of the top public schools in the country as a clown. That would just be silly.

I don't know about the Boris bikes, I don't use them but I do know crime in London is down significantly - this pleases me greatly an is more of a pressing issue to me at the moment than cycling.

Seriously, if your contribution to the issue is to call Boris a 'clown', 'prat', 'Fred Scuttle' and those defending him 'idiots' then you're probably the perfect replacement for Mair - he's very fond of insults.

Unfortunately I think the issues to do with Johnson's management of London would bore most people to tears. Most people don't examine things deeply. Johnson knows that and exploits it for all he's worth.

Therefore I think it's perfectly okay to treat a populist politician with some populist journalism to try to get the attention of the idiots who love him.

So mimi when presented with issues you dismiss them. Are you Boris?