Why does everyone hate Boris?

[skidadle]

Just that really. I neither like nor dislike him I don't feel any emotion towards him.
AIBU to ask why so many people on here hate/dislike Boris Johnson?

Quite frankly I don't give a fuck about Gove's father. I worked in education when Gove was in charge and my dcs were unwititing losers in his stupid fucking policies. He changed GSCE curriculums mid way ensuring teachers didn't know what they were doing and my own children had to cram in new work and discard work they had already been doing as this was no longer part of the exam. One of my children had the school change her course 3 times, yes 3 times because of changes made whilst he was in charge. Their hands were tied. I remember the web page "I hate Michael Gove" never got the chance to access it as it had so many hits by education staff it constantly crashed. I don't recall any other politician being as hated as he was, well maybe Thatcher but that was before my time.
I would support school staff not going into work after the way they have been treated too. Totally this government's fault they had the chance to listen to the head teachers but they know better.......
We now have Boris saying live on air that he will ensure there is some sort of compensation for university students regarding their accommodation fees. Really ? Try telling that to my child a landlord.

There is something worse than Boris and that is Mr Gove and Lady Macgove. Please, voters, don't.

This Mumsnet thread from 2019 asking those who've met Boris in real life what he's really like is eye-opening and damning.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/3611674-Has-anyone-worked-with-Boris-What-s-he-really-like

A sample...

"Great fun if you're of near equal status. If you're of the 'lower orders', he wouldn't spit on you if you were on fire. I'm really frightened about the prospect of him as PM."

and..

"Behind closed doors he's actually really grumpy. Clever, not the buffoon he makes out to be. Arrogant, the comment about only caring for his equals is spot on. Problem is, he doesn't view anyone else as his equal. I couldn't stand him. The best thing about him not being London's mayor was not having to be nice about him anymore and the prospect of him as PM terrifies me. (ex employee of one the GLA's functional bodies)"

and...

" The man is a disgusting misogynist with no respect for anyone other than those from his own class"

and...

"I knew him socially (I am good friends with the wife of one of his friends) and came across him many times. He would consider me to be several classes below him and he was uncomfortable around me, it was weird. He didn't know how to behave around me, was nervous almost, so said stupid things, lots of jokes about job centres and the like, newspapers under our clothes to keep the chill out in winter, I can't remember. I didn't choose to spend much time with him. (And I probably acted up my poor roots because his poshness annoyed me)."

"When he was with his 'own people' he was very different. Smart, had a huge general knowledge, had well thought out opinions on lots of things, listened to what other people had to say, asked good questions, very charismatic, you could see people were drawn to him."

"But out of his comfort zone, when he had to make small talk with his friend's wife's working class friend he was just an idiot. It was strange."

and...

"A friend of mine was at a charity event to raise money, she was sat with her friends all women in their forties and professionals in their field, Boris walked up to them and said to his mate loudly “are these the prossies then ?” Supposed to be a hilarious joke, my friend was absolutely astounded at his attitude."

and...

"I worked for him for about two years when he was mayor of London. He had zero interest in the actual work, which honestly suited us quite well because it meant that the people with actual competence and experience could get on with doing their jobs, but I wouldn't put him in charge of a parish council, let alone a country. His focus is 100% on Boris."

Finally...

"He is out for himself - his interest in you is only about how much you can do for him. He is not a grafter, he leaves the work to others. Sees himself as a born leader, it's really not a joke about comparing himself to Churchill. Wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him and Trump combined - he really knows he can get away with anything as the public are 'clueless plebs'."

He's odious and would't be our PM without the British class system. How long till we can vote him out, again? Feels like we've been stuck with him for a decade already.

@fastwigglylines

This Mumsnet thread from 2019 asking those who've met Boris in real life what he's really like is eye-opening and damning.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/3611674-Has-anyone-worked-with-Boris-What-s-he-really-like

A sample...

"Great fun if you're of near equal status. If you're of the 'lower orders', he wouldn't spit on you if you were on fire. I'm really frightened about the prospect of him as PM."

and..

"Behind closed doors he's actually really grumpy. Clever, not the buffoon he makes out to be. Arrogant, the comment about only caring for his equals is spot on. Problem is, he doesn't view anyone else as his equal. I couldn't stand him. The best thing about him not being London's mayor was not having to be nice about him anymore and the prospect of him as PM terrifies me. (ex employee of one the GLA's functional bodies)"

and...

" The man is a disgusting misogynist with no respect for anyone other than those from his own class"

and...

"I knew him socially (I am good friends with the wife of one of his friends) and came across him many times. He would consider me to be several classes below him and he was uncomfortable around me, it was weird. He didn't know how to behave around me, was nervous almost, so said stupid things, lots of jokes about job centres and the like, newspapers under our clothes to keep the chill out in winter, I can't remember. I didn't choose to spend much time with him. (And I probably acted up my poor roots because his poshness annoyed me)."

"When he was with his 'own people' he was very different. Smart, had a huge general knowledge, had well thought out opinions on lots of things, listened to what other people had to say, asked good questions, very charismatic, you could see people were drawn to him."

"But out of his comfort zone, when he had to make small talk with his friend's wife's working class friend he was just an idiot. It was strange."

and...

"A friend of mine was at a charity event to raise money, she was sat with her friends all women in their forties and professionals in their field, Boris walked up to them and said to his mate loudly “are these the prossies then ?” Supposed to be a hilarious joke, my friend was absolutely astounded at his attitude."

and...

"I worked for him for about two years when he was mayor of London. He had zero interest in the actual work, which honestly suited us quite well because it meant that the people with actual competence and experience could get on with doing their jobs, but I wouldn't put him in charge of a parish council, let alone a country. His focus is 100% on Boris."

Finally...

"He is out for himself - his interest in you is only about how much you can do for him. He is not a grafter, he leaves the work to others. Sees himself as a born leader, it's really not a joke about comparing himself to Churchill. Wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him and Trump combined - he really knows he can get away with anything as the public are 'clueless plebs'."

He's odious and would't be our PM without the British class system. How long till we can vote him out, again? Feels like we've been stuck with him for a decade already.

Of course, we have no way of knowing if any of this is true.

A big part of that is underfunding the NHS for years, which cannot be laid at Johnson's door.

No, but a good deal of it can be laid at the door of the Conservative Party:1951 -1964, 1970 - 1974, 1979 - 1997, 2015 - to date, with 'joint' responsibility with the Lib Dems 2010-15 (with the LibDems blamed for the unpopular policies).

He’s a product of his environment (yes, looking at you Stanley).
Then why are his brother and sister not the same?

[quote Clavinova]David Lammy grew up in poverty. Sadly, in this country he'll never get near no 10.
Which is a real shame as he walks the walk and talks the talk.

David Lammy comes across as a nice person on his LBC talk show as long as he is not political point scoring - as soon as he does he launches into hyperbolic overdrive and starts repeating false facts and disingenuous misquotes from Twitter - so in effect he tells lots of "lies".

He was also fined £5,000 by the Information Commissioner for instigating nuisance calls urging people to back his London mayoral bid in 2016;
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-35772202[/quote]
Sounds like he'd fit in perfectly at number 10.

Hyperbole, lies, mis representing facts for personal gain and using his position to push law.

Of course, we have no way of knowing if any of this is true.

Well, I accept that's true for individuals posts, but it's telling that they all paint the same picture of Johnson as an over-privileged, self serving, incompetent mysoginist who looks down his nose at most of us. There are no posts singing his praises from people who claim to have known hom. Given also that Mumsnet is a massive site with loads of members it's not surprising to find people here who know Johnson in real life, and also that what they're saying is consistent with what we know from other sources, I'm happy to take the overall picture painted as pretty accurate.

As for his hair it does what it does.

No. The hair is an act. He deliberately ruffles it before going on camera.

They don't.
Loads of people love him.
Have a look at the type of people he appeals to and that might give you a good measure of him though.

Same with Trump.

Interesting that a couple of posters have said that Margaret Thatcher would have been better.
You do remember that she caused a massive recession also and that was by her actions. OTOH the recession we have now is not Boris fault. Just a horrible consequence of this pandemic.

Well this weeks reason for hating Boris is because he insisted schools are safe on Sunday (despite having access to information that cases were 50,000+ per day and growing) and needlessly and recklessly allowed pupils and staff to mix for a single day on Monday (heard this was 3million pupils) thus allowing more Covid community transmission and more pressure on NHS. Rather than admit it was an error he tried to spin it as ‘every day in education counts’.

I’m sure next week he will provide another reason.

fastwigglylines
This Mumsnet thread from 2019 asking those who've met Boris in real life what he's really like is eye-opening and damning.
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/3611674-Has-anyone-worked-with-Boris-What-s-he-really-like
.....
Thank you for linking fastwiggly the posts on that thread are dismaying and illuminating, completely fits with what we've seen of him, he's just laughing at all us plebs isn't he:(

@Myshinynewname2021

I remember the last Labour government. An appalling recession and a totally un needed way built on lies.

The recession was not the fault of that government, it was a global financial crash.

The war is another matter of course.

Neither of these have any bearing on whether Johnson is Britain's worst-ever prime minister, which he is.

itsgettingweird
Hyperbole, lies, mis representing facts for personal gain and using his position to push law.

Keir Starmer's got no chance then - far too dull and bland.

fastwigglylines

I see that Boris is described as "Clever" and "Smart" in your quotes - that settles the argument.

He's odious and would't be our PM without the British class system. How long till we can vote him out, again? Feels like we've been stuck with him for a decade already.

Not for another four years, as he has a majority of 80 so there's no way for us to challenge him. The only way he would have to leave would be if the Tory Party turned against him.

Come the next election, then Keir Starmar might have a chance of beating him, if Brexit turns out to be the shit show I expect it will. I also don't think COVID will be forgotten quickly, with the death toll as high as it is.

I also suspect he's likely to be better able to form coalitions with other parties than previous Labour Party leaders have been.

@MrsMiaWallis the detail described, right down to the situations in which people encountered him, and the consistent picture painted, very much points toward it being true.

Interesting that a couple of posters have said that Margaret Thatcher would have been better. You do remember that she caused a massive recession also and that was by her actions. OTOH the recession we have now is not Boris fault. Just a horrible consequence of this pandemic.

I don't think anyone has forgotten her, and still loathe her, but as one with a scientific background I think she would have got to grips with the pandemic much better. Being able to waffle in Latin isn't much use when trying to understand bio-chemistry and medicine.

For those praising how bright he is - he’s really not that clever. This site is stuffed with really pretty smart people; I can tell from the way they write.

And I have real confidence that, if you picked a random person from this thread, you’d be far more likely to find a better PM than Johnson. I have never thought this before but, I swear to God, I think I could run the country better than Johnson.

@Peregrina agreed. It’s generally accepted that Merkel’s scientific background has stood her in good stead in dealing with the pandemic in Germany.

@skidadle I have always taken an active interest in politics but I remember cocooning myself with my kids when I had 2 under 2 as well - sleep deprivation and they were the focus of my world so don’t feel bad. In fact sometimes it feels worse to be actively watching politics, the outright corruption and failures of this particular Government and the fact they are not being held to account. The highanded ‘Move on’ message over covidiot Cummings

How on earth did he get to be prime minister then??

He had previously been sacked as a junior minister for lying about one of his affairs. He was sacked from his job as a journalist for lying. We have a proven liar for a PM and still people believe him!

@Peregrina

Interesting that a couple of posters have said that Margaret Thatcher would have been better. You do remember that she caused a massive recession also and that was by her actions. OTOH the recession we have now is not Boris fault. Just a horrible consequence of this pandemic.

I don't think anyone has forgotten her, and still loathe her, but as one with a scientific background I think she would have got to grips with the pandemic much better. Being able to waffle in Latin isn't much use when trying to understand bio-chemistry and medicine.

Agree as a leader she would have taken control.

But I think for those who are already suffering disadvantages through inequality it would have been worse.

I can't imagine her putting in a system for providing for the poorest, even promising laptops let alone them turning up, having school open for the disadvantaged.

Boris may be a prize prat but he does at least make some attempt at pretending he cares about those in poverty as he likes to be popular.

I'm not sure Thatcher ever gave a shit what people thought of her!

I think he is great. He has personality and seems to normal and down to earth. When he was mayor of London, I'd seen him many times and always liked his eccentric ways

Piglet89
For those praising how bright he is

When did you work with Boris Johnson? I thought fastwigglylines was posting quotes from people who had.

Margaret Thatcher would have acted decisively, been listened to, much more compliance, would have looked at detail, had a cabinet with some who were competent, and would have sacked anyone like Dominic Cummings.

In fact part of the reason many people hated Mrs Thatcher was her ability to get things done, things they did not agree with.