Are we ok with our soon to be PM being involved in a domestic 'argument'?

[Totur]

Enough to prompt a neighbour to call police?

www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jun/21/police-called-to-loud-altercation-at-boris-johnsons-home

'He had a much calmer voice and he was just telling her to calm down, but she was still chucking things about.'

'I heard a lot of smashing - it sounded like plates or glasses - and I could hear her shouting. It was definitely her, I didn't hear him. There was a lot of shouting and swearing.

Wholly consistent with a gaslighting violent menacing man, and a terrified woman defending herself.

Grim

Thanks Chaz. Sorry, I thought you meant someone had actually seen what happened rather than heard.

I see it's reported that Boris's poll numbers have now "slumped"

If it's true, how much says that a similarly juicy story about Hunt will appear any time now?

Hunt’s squeaky clean. While maligning Boris is shooting at an empty goal. I don’t think he wants it at all and he’ll shit himself if he gets it.

Fiddlesticks my friend a police woman, goes to domestic incidents like this smashed plates the like and finds the man cowering in the corner, domestic abuse is not confined to men sheesh....

I would encourage anyone to record any instances where they feel concerned for another person’s safety.”

And then sell/give to the newspapers?

justasking111 Sun 23-Jun-19 10:32:55
Well they cannot find out anything about Hunts wife he wont release her full name. so Boris girlfriend will take all the flack.

What an odd comment.

Couple have late night (short, apparently around 5 mins) row. If he wasn't famous the neighbours would not have even cared. Police did welfare check, both parties fine. Timing coincidence?

Walk around any densely populated area and you will hear arguing, I'm not defending any kind of dv but there's no indication of that here

I wonder why the Guardian hasn’t made an audio recording of the tape on their website. Why aren’t we allowed to hear it?

The neighbours now are under intense scrutiny. Why not just let us hear how truly bad it was so we can set aside our reservations and see them for the heroes that they are?

We will never know the full story. The press are now reporting that she was upset due to John Worboys’s new guilty plea on the same day as she was a victim of his.

She will have every inch of her life raked over too.

I wonder why the Guardian hasn’t made an audio recording of the tape on their website. Why aren’t we allowed to hear it?

The neighbours now are under intense scrutiny. Why not just let us hear how truly bad it was so we can set aside our reservations and see them for the heroes that they are?

I can guarantee that the recording exists and is as reported. No newspaper would make that up in such a situation. They would very easily be found out by a defamation action and the consequences would be disastrous.

I suspect either

a) Johnson already has an interim injunction against the recording being released. Or that the paper is not sure of its legal ground in doing so. The law of privacy versus free expression is a minefield.

or

b) The couple who made the recording don't want it released. Perhaps they can be heard in the background saying things which they don't want to become public.

I imagine the Guardian can't publish the tape because they have to be wary of the possibility of court proceedings.

Well they cannot find out anything about Hunts wife he wont release her full name.

Why would you think that? Details of marriages are publicly available, and it takes all of 10 seconds to find out via Google.

b) The couple who made the recording don't want it released. Perhaps they can be heard in the background saying things which they don't want to become public.

What sort of background chatter could be more important that allowing us to hear a recording of the future PM abusing his girlfriend?

a) Johnson already has an interim injunction against the recording being released. Or that the paper is not sure of its legal ground in doing so. The law of privacy versus free expression is a minefield.

It's much harder to get an injunction against a private citizen, though, isn't it?

“Well they cannot find out anything about Hunts wife he wont release her full name.”

What, you mean Lucia Hunt, nee Guo?

She will have every inch of her life raked over too.

Yes, but that's ok because of whose girlfriend she is, apparently.

“The unpleasant things being said about myself and my partner, and some quite frankly bizarre and fictitious allegations, have been upsetting for not only us, but also for family, friends and fellow Camberwell neighbours, who are currently being harangued by the media. I would ask that you leave private citizens alone and focus instead on those who have chosen to run for power within the public eye.

Oh the irony. So it's ok for her to be harangued but not for them. She's not running for anything.

It's much harder to get an injunction against a private citizen, though, isn't it?

Hi Alaskan,

Getting an injunction against anyone is by the same procedure. And an interim injunction (preventing publication temporarily until a judge can look at the matter properly) is easier to obtain than a permanent one. And injunction or no, I'd be pretty wary as a private citizen of laying myself open to a privacy claim from Johnson for damages - based on the current state of case law I think the neighbour would win it, but there are no guarantees.

(And if you're trying to suggest the recording is not as reported, see my comments above.)

This is of a different order, but Boris has been a serial shit to his wives, girlfriends, and his DC too. That would never be set aside by colleagues, party members or the public if he was a woman.

(And if you're trying to suggest the recording is not as reported, see my comments above.)

What, you mean a man being calm while a woman is screaming/smashing stuff is typical of an abuser? Is this meant to be proof that the recording is as it has been characterised?

I'd not dispute that the recording exists.

Hunt’s squeaky clean

I'm not suggesting he's not - though he'd be an unusual politician, to reach ministerial level with his integrity completely intact

But since when were innocent people exempt from smears, if there's political capital to be had?

There has to be a modicum of evidence for a smear to work, pure fantasy isn’t very effective. There have been many ministers, however odious, who haven’t attracted a whiff of scandal. No reason why Hunt shouldn’t be one of them.

It's much harder to get an injunction against a private citizen, though, isn't it?

If anything, it's easier, not least because private citizens tend not have as deep pockets as newspapers.

Is there any evidence that he's sought an injunction? Because that would make me, as a Conservative Party member, vote against him.

Apparently Carrie Symonds was victim of an attempted rape by John Worboys and was a witness in the initial case. He was convicted of four more rapes on Friday so I imagine it was quite a distressing day for her.

The nursery teacher who is neighbour on the other side says Carrie was drunk and shouting, Boris was trying to calm her down. It’s a shame the Guardian didn’t run this past them to find it out before running the story.