Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to assume Boris Johnson is lying?

288 replies

Thirtytimesround · 18/01/2022 14:05

Cummings says that he warned Boris the drinks party was against the covid rules.

Boris says he didn’t. www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-60039868

So, given the track record, AIBU to assume that BJ is either
(A) lying to Parliament, or
(B) so bad at his job that he has no idea what his private secretary is up to, or what the rules he created actually said, or what the difference is between working and having a drinks party.

OP posts:
DGRossetti · 18/01/2022 17:10

This inquiry may take a while.

Why ? Whenever it's published it's veracity will be compromised.

Blossomtoes · 18/01/2022 17:10

Can someone explain why someone else lying (TB) makes any difference to the fact that Johnson is lying?

It doesn’t. And raking back through 18 years of history to deflect is just disingenuous.

kittensinthekitchen · 18/01/2022 17:25

Those who believe Johnson isn't lying, do you believe he didn't know a social gathering of 100 people was against the rules?

Itsalmostanaccessory · 18/01/2022 17:28

@MorningStarling

Cummings is one of the view people I trust less than Johnson.

If this was true why on earth didn't he reveal it sooner? This could have sunk the ship long ago.

The delaying, the drip drip drip, makes me less inclined to believe it.

He is running a smear campaign. This is how you run a smear campaign. Drip drip drip. A little more anger here, a little more anger there, another revelation, proof to back it up, a little more anger here and there.
DGRossetti · 18/01/2022 17:30

@kittensinthekitchen

Those who believe Johnson isn't lying, do you believe he didn't know a social gathering of 100 people was against the rules?
Has anyone on this thread actually said they believe Boris ?
Peanut82 · 18/01/2022 17:31

I think Boris is full of shit to be honest but then again I'm not a fan of DC neither, he's no stranger to rule breaking himself.
I think Boris should resign though 100% but I doubt very much he will

DeliriaSkibbly · 18/01/2022 17:34

@kittensinthekitchen

Those who believe Johnson isn't lying, do you believe he didn't know a social gathering of 100 people was against the rules?
It doesn't matter. Ignorance is no defence in the eyes of the law. Particularly when you wrote the law.

With regard to Sue Gray's report, it's hard to know if it'll be damning or not. Johnson and his cohorts seem reasonably confident in saying "well, let's wait for the report", but in any event even if the report states that Johnson clearly broke the rules and did so knowingly, the person who decides Johnson's punishment is, er, Johnson. Given his life up to this point I think it fairly safe to say he'll just carry on.

I note the seed has already been sown by Raab who said today that a Prime Minister found lying would "usually" resign. No absolute there. Why not ?

DGRossetti · 18/01/2022 17:37

If Cummings is still sticking to plan Cummings (and there's no reason to suspect he isn't) then this is merely the start. He's already on record as saying the whole system needs to be pulled down and rebuilt. Presumably in a manner that recognises his genius.

Getting Brexit in was a sure-fire way to start the slow destruction of the Tory party that's needed to begin the demolition. The word being internecine.

One presumes if Labour weren't so good at doing it themselves he would have targeted them.

Not sure if that helps guess what's next, but it does suggest it's going to hurt.

SuitcaseOfWhine · 18/01/2022 17:37

Agree. Johnson lies to country but Starmer's boring and lacks charisma. Can't possibly vote for labour

So corruption, incompetence, lies and behaving like the public you serve are beneath you is far better than not turning up to the office wearing a snazzy tie then?

Ok........

FaoinDrualus · 18/01/2022 17:39

Of course he's lying - but people don't care.

In 2019 he was found by the Supreme Court to have lied to the Queen when he asked her to dissolve parliament early to avoid Brexit debates that he didn't want to have.

Four months later he won the General Election by the Conservatives biggest majority by any party since 1979.

People don't care that he lied - they appear to expect him to. Why would he change?

DGRossetti · 18/01/2022 17:47

Of course he's lying - but people don't care.

I think that's what this thread, and recent events are trying hard to disprove.

An apathetic electorate is merely holding the doors open for totalitarianism.

Unless you have studied history, you have very little idea of how we are becoming that which we believed we defeated. Not with a bang, but a whimper.

I don't want my son to pay the price for my apathy with his blood.

girlmom21 · 18/01/2022 17:47

@SuitcaseOfWhine

Agree. Johnson lies to country but Starmer's boring and lacks charisma. Can't possibly vote for labour

So corruption, incompetence, lies and behaving like the public you serve are beneath you is far better than not turning up to the office wearing a snazzy tie then?

Ok........

I think what you're quoting there is sarcasm, love...
Blossomtoes · 18/01/2022 17:52

People don't care that he lied - they appear to expect him to. Why would he change?

Because people didn’t care that he lied. They do now. Even his blue rinse fangirls have turned against him now.

DeliriaSkibbly · 18/01/2022 17:55

@DGRossetti

Of course he's lying - but people don't care.

I think that's what this thread, and recent events are trying hard to disprove.

An apathetic electorate is merely holding the doors open for totalitarianism.

Unless you have studied history, you have very little idea of how we are becoming that which we believed we defeated. Not with a bang, but a whimper.

I don't want my son to pay the price for my apathy with his blood.

^ This x100

So much of what is happening should be provoking complete outrage throughout the country but the apathy is extraordinary. I was so relieved to see the Lords throw out the police/sentencing bill because it's a terrible piece of legislation. It essentially means the police can stop ANY protest at all and discretion is up to the police - who've hardly shown themselves to be trustworthy by any stretch of the imagination.

The constant rhetoric by Patel about illegal immigrants and now she's going to send in the military. What, precisely, does she think the military are going to do that nobody else has been able to ? I suppose she wants them to just shoot these people dead and leave them floating.

The constant lies and deceit from Johnson are just another facet of the same problem.

And yet people vote for this party again and again and again. Keir Starmer isn't very exciting, I agree, but he's competent and civil and professional. All things we desperately need in politics and our political leadership. But people in England (note: ENGLAND) recoil in horror when you try to tell them to not vote Tory.

We get the government we deserve. I am sick of it.

JustSinginIntheRain · 18/01/2022 17:56

I thought this man was supposed to be amazing at English, Latin, educated at top universities and an ex journalist.

You would think he could read a set of rules which he wrote. Nobody told me my ass. Hmm

StarbucksSmarterSister · 18/01/2022 18:03

Look at his track record. He's lied his whole life, been sacked for it twice.

I don't like Cummings at all and we can all guess his motivation, but I'd believe him over Johnson every single time.

Romeiswheretheheartis · 18/01/2022 18:04

I bet the scientists who stood at those podiums with him when he was telling us the rules are wondering why they bothered.......

DGRossetti · 18/01/2022 18:05

@StarbucksSmarterSister

Look at his track record. He's lied his whole life, been sacked for it twice.

I don't like Cummings at all and we can all guess his motivation, but I'd believe him over Johnson every single time.

The lack of MPs calling Cummings a liar is interesting too.

Their silence is merely confirming he is telling the truth.

And that he knows where their bodies are buried.

lonelyplanetmum · 18/01/2022 18:08

@DGRossetti

Of course he's lying - but people don't care.

I think that's what this thread, and recent events are trying hard to disprove.

An apathetic electorate is merely holding the doors open for totalitarianism.

Unless you have studied history, you have very little idea of how we are becoming that which we believed we defeated. Not with a bang, but a whimper.

I don't want my son to pay the price for my apathy with his blood.

I think it goes even further than this DGR ( Hi). It's not just that some of the electorate don't care he is lying. They: a. Expect it; and b. Admire it.

I think there's a sort of grudging respect for the Eton elite from some quarters.
Sort of the guvnor he's a bad lad, he impregnates scullery maids and lies about it. But he's still the guvnor.
Whereas anyone leading Labour or the LibDems is more one of us and therefore held to a higher standard.
So Kier's working beer while campaigning is terrible, but a party for 100 is naughty but grudgingly admired ( by some).

StarbucksSmarterSister · 18/01/2022 18:09

I thought this man was supposed to be amazing at English, Latin, educated at top universities and an ex journalist.

According to him.

Apparently he was furious that Cameron got a better degree because he thought he was brighter than Cameron.

kittensinthekitchen · 18/01/2022 18:10

Has anyone on this thread actually said they believe Boris ?

@DGRossetti

Well yes, or I wouldn't have referenced it.

TheWomandestroyed · 18/01/2022 18:14

Yes I'm sure he is lying, but Cummings is acting like a spurned lover!

LovelyBitOfSquirrelInTheWirral · 18/01/2022 18:15

BJ has been having a laugh at the country’s expense since he became PM.
He’s a chancer who is waiting to see how long he can act the clown before he is pushed.
Enough is enough. We need someone in charge who takes the job seriously and doesn't have a nose longer than Pinocchio’s.

Sandsnake · 18/01/2022 18:16

Both Cummings and Johnson have been completely clear about events - one is lying, there is no space for ambiguity. So either a) the Prime Minister has clearly and repeatedly lied to parliament about his knowledge of the party on 20 May, including when asked about these matters directly.

Or b) Dominic Cummings, the man known as the architect of Brexit - responsible for much of the messaging that ultimately took us out of the EU - is lying, and has lied in order to try and cause the resignation of a Prime Minister.

One of those things has to be true. To me that paints an awful picture as to the state of the government, and indeed the state of our democracy at present.

generalh · 18/01/2022 18:16

Of course he is lying. And he knows he is lying. And he knows we know he is lying.

Swipe left for the next trending thread