Is Boris a good example for our children?

[longwayoff]

Would you encourage your children to behave as our Prime Minister has done? Lying to the public, lying to Parliament, lying to wives, etc. Is he someone you'd encourage them to admire and emulate?

@manysummersago

One of the things I’ve come to realise as an adult is that skills needed for really effective leadership don’t sit comfortably alongside skills we are taught when small about kindness, empathy, compassion, etc.

To be effective at leadership, you need a certain amount of callousness and ruthlessness and even disregard for others.

In other words, effective leadership doesn’t really make someone a likeable or even particularly pleasant person, but I don’t need a PM to be my best friend.

You have just described many NHS managers there!

@Sally872

Of course he is a bad example. Your post is goady because there is only one very obvious answer.

You'd think!

Except there's a whole host of people still coming out defending Boris catalogue of lies and deceit.

It's a fair enough question IMO to parents (especially those defending him) if they'd encourage their own children to behave the same way.

OP - I don't need to. My ds and his mates (all 17 and 18 so eligible to vote at next GE) can see him and could Trump for exactly who they are and wouldn't vote for Boris is he was the only candidate available!!!!!

They actually compare Trump and Boris to Putin and can see the way we are changing from democracy to dictatorship with anti protest bills etc.

@Tanith

Never mind the kids, he's a very bad role model to other politicians.

Boris Johnson's behaviour sets a precedence. They might cheer on "Good Old Boris" with his lies and antics, but will they as happily accept other Party leaders doing it when they become PM?

Boris Johnson is showing them all how they, too, can get away with lies and greed by simply not giving a damn.

Excellent post.

I think it's a valid question even though the answer is an obvious resounding no. His behaviour has clearly been totally unacceptable and it is utterly ridiculous having a man who has behaved in the way he has (not just this) leading the country.

Leaders should be seen as trying to do the right thing, even if they sometimes fail. Leaders should be seen as having principles and integrity even if they sometimes have to compromise. Leaders should seem to care about the people they lead and not just themselves. So no I don't think Johnson is a good role model.

Boris Johnson has never been a role model for children in all the years he's been in the public eye. If you're looking for political role models then look to the back bench MPs. They are the ones working for local communities, not the government ministers.

No of course not, but this hasn't changed because of his recent behaviour. If anything, he has probably slightly improved since he was young. At least as far as we're aware he is not impregnating women all over the place and forcing them to have abortions, or trying to arrange for people to be beaten up.

Wierd. I never told to nor considered Margaret Thatcher as a role model when I was growing up.

What a dumb question. Course he isn't. He's a total bell.

My DH said the very same thing this morning, not about DC specifically, but how BJ's behaviour sets a poor example to the UK as a whole.

He was brought up by a father who looks at life as "a game to be played" and bugger the unpleasant consequences for everyone else.

And the prevailing culture in many public schools is "it's ok as long as you are not caught"
which allows responsibility to be shifted on to someone else.

This is pure speculation, but I am convinced that BJ, being unable to lead by example, is popular precisely because he turns a blind eye to other MPs and members of the government machine, behaving badly themselves. There has been a lot of dabbling in low and high level corruption and you get the impression that a sense of superiority has been allowed to prevail which leads to the attitude of "it's ok we can party while the plebs outside can't visit their elderly parent in a rest home". We're the government, we can get away with it. We are in charge. Rather than , "we are operating alongside everyone else and are here to serve".

I am 100% convinced

@manysummersago
I get that they don't have to be everyone's cup of tea but lying in parliament? That's another level of incompetence, how the hell has he not gone. Where is his decency.

Not everything is about 'role modelling for children'

Be a role model to your own kids!

@PurpleDaisies

To be effective at leadership, you need a certain amount of callousness and ruthlessness and even disregard for others.

Rubbish. We have just seen too many leaders like it that too many people are willing to accept that from our politicians.

If you need to make the decision to go to war, or to impose lockdown, or to make people redundant, or any other huge decision, compassion for individuals won’t be conducive to that.

These decisions may not be wrong and they may be beneficial (or otherwise) but some element of hard-headedness is necessary.

There has never been a leader I’d encourage my child to emulate. They tend to be power-crazed and absolutely ruthless, no matter their political leaning. They are all in it for themselves. Boris has some very good qualities. Even the great Obama was considered to have been a pretty ineffectual president.

Do you want your children to know what a woman is OP? If so, I don’t recommend they look to Keir Starner for guidance.

These decisions may not be wrong and they may be beneficial (or otherwise) but some element of hard-headedness is necessary.

I wouldn’t say that hard headedness is the same as callousness, ruthlessness or disregard for others.

Yes of course

Can’t wait for ‘You Child can be just as magnificent as Boris Johnson’ book to launch very soon

I have have Pre ordered obviously first editions have already sold out

@PurpleDaisies

These decisions may not be wrong and they may be beneficial (or otherwise) but some element of hard-headedness is necessary.

I wouldn’t say that hard headedness is the same as callousness, ruthlessness or disregard for others.

If you are making a decision like going to war, you know that thousands will die and suffer because of a decision you made. The fact it may be the right decision doesn’t change this.

So yes I think you do need a certain amount of callousness and be able to stand firm amongst others’ discomfort.

@Electrox

Why should he be? That isn't his job.

Oh man, how depressing, how low have standards slumped for us to think that a British PM shouldn't be a role model to our children? Clearly British politics are completely in the toilet and expectations are right there with them.

Callousness is showing and insensitive and cruel disregard for others. That should not be part of a decision to go to war.

Sorry, posted too soon.

I am 100% convinced that all recent "sleaze" , or shall we call it straightforward "corruption" which it is, was fostered by having a Prime Minister lacking in personal integrity:

• the Downing Street refurbishment with the designer wallpaper
• the dodgy holiday in Mystique
• the Barnard Castle Cummings debacle
• the scrambling for dodgy profits from PPE firms
• the Robert Jenrick housing scandal
• ditto Owen Patterson Randox scandal
• Partygate

And all of those things are bad enough on their own, but what's even worse is that all of these pretty disgusting episodes were subsequently lied about or covered up until the absolute last moment when those involved came under immense pressure to admit to them and even then lies or justifications were made. BJ even lied in Parliament about the parties.

They must hold us, the general public, in so much contempt. During the pandemic they must have been effectively laughing at us, "the little people" for "sticking to the rules".

I agree with the PP upthread that there is a culture of "the rules don't apply to us" at many public schools, which comes partly from the school and partly from the parents. People raised that way naturally carry that through to adulthood in the way that Boris has.

Can't think of many children who would look to the Prime Minister for life lessons.

Unless he's suddenly popped up on TikTok with a "funny" video, most will be blissfully unaware of his behaviour.

I always use Clement Attlee as a good role model instead.

Hazard of being on MN I suppose but not everything is always about bloody children.

The only valuable lesson your kids can learn from Boris is that success doesn't depend on being the best, working hard and being a paragon of virtue.

Of the 10 PMs there have been since I was old enough to understand, the most decent and honest was probably John Major - which doesn't say a lot for the rest of the bunch.