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Original poster

Boris and the Virus

242 replies

Fatasfooook · 14/04/2020 14:52

Intensive care at the crossroads of life and death, 3 days later suited and booted and giving speeches. Fishy or what?

OP posts:
cybercontroller · 14/04/2020 18:56

@Devlesko

And it seems I still haven't.

pilates · 14/04/2020 18:57

Thought this might interest you:-

Dilyn is a dog which lives with Carrie Symonds and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson at 10 Downing Street. It is a white, male Jack Russell cross and was born in 2018. The dog was rescued as a puppy from a breeder in South Wales by Friends of Animals Wales because it had a misaligned jaw and was going to be put down.

Pelleas · 14/04/2020 19:01
  • To drum up sympathy and get his criticisers to pay tributes and make positive noises in his direction.

Do you really think he is that desperate for sympathy - sympathy which, if given, he would know was unfounded and would therefore be invalid?

  • To distract from the shocking death toll.

If anything, the country's Prime Minister being seriously ill draws attention to the shocking death toll and impact of this disease.

  • To manipulate the public into thinking he is some sort of hero

That wouldn't gain him anything, though. Think of Churchill in WW2 - he had immense charisma and his leadership was seen as heroic at the time - what happened - first post-war GE and he was booted out in favour of Labour.

People in democracies usually vote pragmatically, for policies rather than people. Boris knows that - it's why he based his campaign on Getting Brexit Done. Whatever you think of the campaign and its sentiment, it was a skilled campaign that got the Tories a landslide victory. A politician astute enough to manipulate the country like that wouldn't resort to a schoolboy-style wheeze of pretending to be ill so people feel sorry for him.

Pelleas · 14/04/2020 19:03

Pilates Glad to hear Boris and Carrie rehomed a rescue!

Mittens030869 · 14/04/2020 19:07

There won't be an election for at least another 4 years. By then no one will even remember that Boris had COVID-19.

If anything they were keen to understate his condition.

Pelleas · 14/04/2020 19:09

Exactly, Mittens.

titchy · 14/04/2020 19:13

Why would Boris fake a severe Coronavirus attack?
To drum up sympathy and get his criticisers to pay tributes and make positive noises in his direction. To distract from the shocking death toll. To manipulate the public into thinking he is some sort of hero

No. Politically it is a very very weak thing to do. That's why the initial admission to hospital was downplayed so much. Governments cannot be seen to have weak leaders, at any cost. Just look at history and how many Premier strokes and heart attacks have been covered up.

The Gov doesn't need the public's sympathy - it's got a large majority and nearly five more years.

The Gov would have been far more worried about the markets again why the Sunday admission was downplayed - and still they dropped.

Just use your brain and think for a minute.

Aragog · 14/04/2020 19:29

So those who don't believe him - presumably you believe the nurses, doctors and other patients who have spoken are lying too?

And you believe he was acting when talking breathlessly and looking ill too?

shinyredbus · 14/04/2020 19:32

Take A long hard look at yourself and ask yourself - youre actually accusing him of lying about almost dying??? He can’t win can he.

berryhead2013 · 14/04/2020 19:37

I don't think they would have wasted an icu bed on someone that wasn't that ill even before this and especially not now
Can't stand the man he is a bawheed but don't wish him dead

StatisticallyChallenged · 14/04/2020 19:40

I agree with those saying it makes no sense politically for him to have faked this. He's maybe garnered some personal goodwill, but overall it just doesn't seem like a remotely desirable political look - I'm really weak and poorly?? The government doesn't have proper leadership? Let's spook the markets even more?

Alsohuman · 14/04/2020 19:40

Look on the bright side, after all that eulogising about the NHS his government has no option but to support it properly now.

ZombieFan · 14/04/2020 20:16

The man caught a deadly virus but he continued to work, he literally nearly worked himself to death for this country. And on the internet the ghouls come out.

He had no need to get the countries sympathy, the country already loves him and gave him a stonking 80 seat majority. He will be PM for the next 10 years.

God bless him and hope he gets to recuperate. His country needs him back at 100%, their a still a lot more work to do. ❤❤❤

scaryteacher · 14/04/2020 20:34

If it were false that he was ill, then it would leak pretty damn quick. The photos of him clapping at No 10 prior to being hospitalised showed he looked ill, and he evidently wasn't well with the recording he made once out of hospital. He looked a bit fragile, or less ebullient and brimming with vitality than normal.

I have to agree with Zombie; he went on working when he was ill, to get the job done, and he doesn't deserve accusations of lying about having the virus thrown at him.

Too much internet is evidently dangerous for some.

MintyMabel · 14/04/2020 20:57

He never had the virus, he’s never told the truth yet, anyone who actually believes this is a bigger fool than Johnson

Sure, because after you’ve made a big show early on about how safe it is shaking hands with hospital staff, you’re going to pretend you got the virus. That’s not going to make you look like a prized twat at all, is it?

WotchaTalkinBoutWillis · 14/04/2020 21:06

Sure, because after you’ve made a big show early on about how safe it is shaking hands with hospital staff, you’re going to pretend you got the virus

Good point, I mean whut Grin

x2boys · 14/04/2020 21:10

So according to mumsnet Boris and 'the Tories hate the NHS want to sell it off etc ( according to many threads) yet St Thomas,s Hospital and it's staff happily collude in Boris elaborate lies about having the virus and give up one of their ICU beds for no reason Hmm

KTheGrey · 14/04/2020 21:16

I think the fishiness was more so that they could cover it for a day or two if he died, Death of Stalin style. I think the government were absolutely bricking it and Raab at those briefings looked like he might cry.

CandyLeBonBon · 14/04/2020 21:25

It wouldn't surprise me if the truth was somewhere in between all of this conjecture. It's weird times and honestly this government really hasn't done a great job. The guy got sick at the peak of dissent and it's possible to surmise that just perhaps his illness was overegged to manipulate opinion.

I'm not suggesting he wasn't ill but I don't believe it's beyond the realm of possibility for egotistical political leaders who know they are being criticised for handling a situation badly to leverage a personally difficult situation to benefit their position.

Because, you know, politics.
And PR

because that is literally the definition of PR.

CandyLeBonBon · 14/04/2020 21:26

Well in political terms at least.

Devlesko · 14/04/2020 21:57

Cyber

I can assure you the feeling is mutual.
Doesn't take too much intelligence to believe everything you are told, to live by rules from authority, just because they are rules, with no substance.
I'll leave it with you my love, you keep following the fold.

cybercontroller · 14/04/2020 22:52

@devlesko

I can assure you the feeling is mutual.

You haven't met any either? Makes sense, I dount they exist.

Doesn't take too much intelligence to believe everything you are told, to live by rules from authority, just because they are rules, with no substance.
I'll leave it with you my love, you keep following the fold.

I don't believe everything I'm told. That includes by conspiracy theorists.

Out of curiosity, when you say sheeple do you mean it in the usual sense of anyone who doesn't automatically believe in every batshit conspiracy theory out there, or your own bizarre meaning of anyone who works a 9-5 job?

twirlycat77 · 14/04/2020 23:13

Wonder if Prince Charles faked it too.

blueshoes · 14/04/2020 23:24

No way he was on ECMO. That is even worse than mechanical ventilation.

Schuyler · 14/04/2020 23:31

I’m still not clear why the dog is a dickhead :( but I’m definitely going to write my first children’s book and name it “Boris and the Virus”. I’m as yet unclear if dickhead dog will feature in my book. Watch this space!