To think that a personality cult has developed around Boris Johnson?

[Applejaxx]

I know this sounds completley ridiculous but have a quick look around social media and in particular Twitter, and you will see a disturbing number of people with lots of union flags in their twitter handle name who effectively think that the sun shines out of his arse, that he can do no wrong and that any justifiable criticism of his or his governments handling of the current crisis is part of a massive 'leftie' conspiracy against him.

They are terrified of 'lefties's and 'liberals' and think all of the media are out to get Boris and his government, it is just bat shit. Its not just Twitter either, I had to unfriend someone on Facebook after they told me that I should 'show Boris some fucking respect' a few weeks ago. This was after I'd shared something criticising his handling of the pandemic. Thankfully it was somone I don't really know that well and never have to see again, but still!

If im honest it all a bit disturbing. Its reminscent of a personality cult IMO, 'how dare you disrespect our glorious leader'.

@Applejaxx I had to unfriend someone on Facebook after they told me that I should 'show Boris some fucking respect' a few weeks ago. on the day it was announced he had tested positive for Covid, I said on Facebook that it was all a bit ironic considering his going around shaking hands with victims and banging on about washing his hands. As benign as that: wasn’t laughing at him or wishing him ill or taking glee in his illness

I got absolutely piled on by a couple of Facebook friends who I knew were Tories but not that they were actual lunatics. They were women I
went to school with. It was bonkers. I replied very reasonably, as did a few other friends but we just kept being CAPS LOCKED at by the same couple of women calling as traitors and saying we didn’t respect our country and that I should be reported to the police for “wishing Boris dead” (a- I wasn’t and b- he’s not Henry VIII and all dissenting voices are traitors. Bloody hell).

One woman got so hysterical she was saying she hoped I and my children get Covid and die so that I can “see what it’s like” (if I was dead surely I’d be entirely the opposite of seeing what it was like, but anyway) and then one threatened to report me to my school (teacher) for being anti government (?!?!?) it was insanity. People I have g spoken to in years were DMing me to ask if these couple of loud lunatics were actually mad or was it lockdown getting to them.

So I don’t know about cult of personality but I do think we now can’t do much as criticise him, as it apparently amounts to that we are wishing his unborn child be born fatherless.

Yanbu he thinks he's Churchill. Which is appropriate given the Boer War stuff.

@BadLad The difference is that Corbyn is a decent man who works hard on a personal level to make a positive difference to the lives of others. The only thing Johnson has ever worked hard at is advancing his own power for the sake of wanting it!

It's still cult-like lauding.

I have a friend who has worked for him in some way since he was mayor. She’s pretty bonkers and out of touch with how normal people live, so sounds about right to me.

But your thread isn't about that. It's about OTT lauding and cult-like worshipping of politicians. Why is it correct to say that it happens to Johnson, but "lacking in critical thinking skills" to say it happens to Corbyn?

You said you'd never seen it to such an extent. That sounds like you've never heard anything Momentum have ever said about Corbyn

Have to agree OP. You opened the debate on this.

Boris has the sympathy vote at the moment, having come through intensive care, but people will start to turn against him once the lockdown has gone on for too long and as more people die of COVID-19. Especially as Keir Starmar will regularly demonstrates holes in his arguments at PM's questions. He is after all an experienced barrister.

I really hope so, but they are gunning for Starmer because he's too middle class! Its not OK to be middle class but perfectly fine to be an upper class Eton educated toff apparently... what a strange world these people inhabit.

It's still cult-like lauding

And it’s fucking history. Get over it.

I can't bear the fact that any criticism of Johnson makes you a raving left Corbynite. For what it's worth, I am left wing & I think Corbyn is the worse thing that ever happened to the Labour Party. DH is a traditional always voted Tory. Except for the last election when he could not vote for the lying buffoon. We were cursed with such poor leadership.

@AllTheWhoresOfMalta, wow that is... wow. I don't know if I could have replied nicely if in your shoes. Glad I've kept my FB small, I know most of the people I'm 'friends' with are mostly Labour/LibDem/generally disinterested in politics. Except one woman who I went to school with, shared a 'Clap for Boris' poster and then commented on his page that he was 'the best thing to happen to this country'. I'm really surprised she hasn't deleted me yet, my sentiments are... well not in line with hers, let's leave it at that. Didnt wish the bloke to get sick though, that's really low behaviour, as is wishing it in anyone else.

Oh, and I'm also not a huge Corbyn supporter. I personally think he's a compassionate man who genuinely wants the best for people, but that doesn't translate to being a good politician or leader. His utter refusal to get involved in the Brexit campaign really put me off him - I'd have rather him have the balls to say he wanted to leave the EU than the absolute nothing he did.

Anyway, hes gone now. I have high hopes for Starmar, I hope he really shows his true leadership skills once this awful pandemic is looking like it's calming down.

And it’s fucking history. Get over it.

The OP brought up Tony Blair as a point of comparison. That's more than a decade into history. Corbyn is about a fortnight.

YANBU. Total fake and a poseur and has been since he was at college (knew him very, very slightly.)

@BadLad, with all due respect there's a difference between Corbyn, Blair and Johnson. One of those never became PM due to disproportionate popularity over actual ability. Yes, Momentum couldn't be argued with, but you can't really compare a break-off party's mentality vs a significant number of the British population's.

Well BadLad seeing as you are so fixated with Corbyn, I'll bite and say that all I ever saw was hate filled bile directed at Corbyn during the run up the election. He was accused of all sorts.

Is that a new record for 'but Corbyn'?

Looking in from the outside, I think a lot of it is to do with the British media. That NYT had it right, it was so bizarre to watch as the UK’s death toll hit the same levels as Italy and Spain the way the UK media - and many posters here - were preoccupied with Boris. I remember the total tragedy those numbers seemed in Italy and France, yet on here so many posters were downplaying them (whereas in reality the actual numbers, including those in care homes, are likely to be much higher).

@BadLad, with all due respect there's a difference between Corbyn, Blair and Johnson. One of those never became PM due to disproportionate popularity over actual ability. Yes, Momentum couldn't be argued with, but you can't really compare a break-off party's mentality vs a significant number of the British population's

Your second sentence confused me. Only Corbyn never became PM, but it doesn't sound like you are describing him.

Why are you so sure that it wasn't the policies which won the election? I usually see it described as the Brexit election, not merely a triumph of Johnson's personality, although no doubt his greater charisma relative to May was a factor.

I think there's a large slice of confirmation bias, probably on both sides. I see much more worshipping of Corbyn (even now) than of Johnson. People who want to see differently no doubt find that surprising.

"He is the only political leader who deliberately messes his hair up before going on TV."

Ken Dodd also did this...

@Cnoc is totally correct.

When I criticised him my dm said "I like how he bumbles around"...we've had to agree to disagree, she's a long time Tory voter and I'm standing for Labour councillor

Well BadLad seeing as you are so fixated with Corbyn, I'll bite and say that all I ever saw was hate filled bile directed at Corbyn during the run up the election. He was accused of all sorts.

That's "all you saw"? You didn't come across a single post, tweet or message by Momentum? That surprises me.

I don't think I am fixated on Corbyn. In fact, I haven't made one criticism of him on this thread. I'm merely pointing out that he was also much lauded during his time as leader. You're saying that's in the past, but seeing as you said you'd never seen the like of Johnson's lauding, going all the way back to Blair, I think it's fair enough to say that I think Corbyn had it as well.

I usually see it described as the Brexit election, not merely a triumph of Johnson's personality, although no doubt his greater charisma relative to May was a factor.

Who pushed for Brexit? Johnson did. He was the main face of it all, mixed in with that clownish personality he's built up. He played a very long game to get the public on side - he even bypassed the original post-Brexit leadership race to he could judge how badly the shitbomb would go off in one of his colleagues' faces, before swooping in with his 'Boris' personality saying he was the man to sort it all out. Of course it was about personality, after Robot May he was quite the salve to a nation bored of new, interchangeable party leaders. He didn't even need to run a campaign for the last election - just turn up, be his usual jolly chap, shout Brexit then wobble off. He even walkeds into a fridge - did you see that? Only Boris could do that, harhar. It's all about his character, sadly that can only last so long before hopefully people realise that charisma doesn't equate good leadership.

Can you take this elsewhere Badlad, along with those who want to discuss Disraeli's reforms because its about as relevant or interesting.

BadLad you lot are like stuck record. 'But Corbyn, momentum blah, blah'.

Who pushed for Brexit? Johnson did. He was the main face of it all, mixed in with that clownish personality he's built up. He played a very long game to get the public on side - he even bypassed the original post-Brexit leadership race to he could judge how badly the shitbomb would go off in one of his colleagues' faces, before swooping in with his 'Boris' personality saying he was the man to sort it all out. Of course it was about personality, after Robot May he was quite the salve to a nation bored of new, interchangeable party leaders. He didn't even need to run a campaign for the last election - just turn up, be his usual jolly chap, shout Brexit then wobble off. He even walkeds into a fridge - did you see that? Only Boris could do that, harhar. It's all about his character, sadly that can only last so long before hopefully people realise that charisma doesn't equate good leadership.

Perhaps people didn't like Johnson but wanted to have Brexit pushed through Parliament. Or, at least, enough of them did in marginal seats to give him a majority.

I can't really imagine the traditional labour seats being so taken with his personality that that was the deciding factor. I think it's far more likely that a guarantee of Brexit was the deciding factor.

I'm not denying that there is a cult around "Boris". I'm taking issue with the implication that it is unprecedented.

I know there is too much 'but what about Corbin?' going round, but I was sad that Labour didn't have a better leader to stand against Johnson and the Tories at the last election. I think that if Labour had had a leader like Keir Starmar, the result of the election would have been very different. They might well still have lost because of Brexit, but the majority could have been a lot smaller, or even another hung Parliament.