This is why I love Boris Johnson

[Bereta_Eder]

i think it's because he (and nigel farage for that matter) is seen as honest, compared to other political figures. this is rather ironic of course given his unrelenting dishonesty is all areas of his life, but there it is.

and what are this guy's class origins?
I have noticed that these "honest" truck drivers/baffon types that like to tickle populist's colon can't really do it unless they come from "low" have somehow "ascended" (using exactly such dishonest methods) but due to their origin, they "know" how to talk to the masses.

[molly bloom]

and what are this guy's class origins?

The maddest Mayor of London appears to be a 'nice but dim Tim Tory boy' but he's made mincemeat of those who under rated him.


Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson was born in New York on 19 June 1964 and this meant that, until recently, he was officially a US citizen. Johnson is the eldest of four children to English parents Stanley Johnson, a former Conservative MP, and his painter (first) wife Charlotte Johnson.

Known as Al to his family, Johnson's family tree makes for interesting reading: his maternal grandfather, Sir James Fawcett, was president of the European Commission of Human Rights and on his father's side, he is the great grandson of Ali Kemal Bey, a Turkish journalist who was murdered during the Turkish war of Independence.

The Johnsons returned to England shortly after Boris’ birth and as a child he suffered from severe deafness, such that he was in and out of hospital in a bid to correct it. Johnson was first educated at the European School in Brussels when his father landed a job at the European Commission, in charge of pollution control. It was here that he met his future wife, Marina Wheeler, daughter of BBC journalist Charles Wheeler.

As his parent's marriage began to falter, Johnson was packed off to board at Eton College in England. He went on to read classics at Oxford University and was elected president of the Oxford Union. He was also a member of the university's Bullingdon Club with David Cameron, which was notorious for its hard-drinking and rebellious behaviour. Solid evidence of Johnson's involvement in such wild antics are hard to locate but he has been cannily honest about his drug use in the past, owning up to smoking cannabis as a teen and saying on the TV programme, 'Have I Got News For You': "I think I was once given cocaine, but I sneezed and so it did not go up my nose. In fact, I may have been doing icing sugar."

http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biographies/boris-johnson.html

[Bereta_Eder]

The Johnsons returned to England shortly after Boris’ birth and as a child he suffered from severe deafness, such that he was in and out of hospital in a bid to correct it. Johnson was first educated at the European School in Brussels when his father landed a job at the European Commission, in charge of pollution control. It was here that he met his future wife, Marina Wheeler, daughter of BBC journalist Charles Wheeler.

Then in my opinion he is indeed "low class".
He didn't come from a rich household but he ascended using said methods.
Fits, IMO.
Rich folks excude cluelesness, entitlement and privileged like wearing a cheap parfume and can't connect to the average people.

Those other folks like that guy, unfortunately, can.
and do a ****load of damage because most of the time they promote a populist rightwing-ism (while at the same time fattening their personal coffers).

[molly bloom]

Then in my opinion he is indeed "low class".

Cough.

He has the typical upper class English background of Eton public school, Oxford University and a father who is a Conservative politician.

and:

In one group photograph - which would later come back to haunt him - Mr Johnson is pictured lounging decadently in his £1,200 Bullingdon Club tailcoat, alongside Mr Cameron.

The Bullingdon Club was infamous for trashing local restaurants, before handing over a cheque to cover the damage.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7376621.stm

[Bereta_Eder]

Ok, but going to an upper class school doesn't make you upper class, you just get a glimpse at their workings, and having a politician father (I thought he worked at the commission??) doesn't make you upper either, just more hilariously conceited, IMO.
But if his family's fortune was large enough... (but then again why his father didn't plunge in enterprises and suck up public funds? but went to work for the commission?)
:shrugs:

[kentonio]

the interesting thing to discuss about boris johnson, is not the frequently made accusations of racism, which although not totally baseless, are really about a certain kind of colonialist attitude to places like africa, rather than prejudice based on skin colour, but rather the reason why he is popular. i think it's because he (and nigel farage for that matter) is seen as honest, compared to other political figures. this is rather ironic of course given his unrelenting dishonesty is all areas of his life, but there it is.

Johnson is seen as a maverick who is willing to say what other politicians won't, stand up and argue with the accepted line and even (shockingly for a politician) admit when he's wrong or has made an arse of himself. Now obviously a lot of that is carefully stage managed, but the thing is it works. It works because it's such a refreshing change from the mass bulk of the political classes, and it makes him nearly untouchable because he has the priceless gift of being genuinely funny. Put together funny, self-deprecating, intelligent and eccentric and you have a character that's damn near irresistable to the UK public. Farage is a pale shadow of that by comparison, which is why if UKIP continue their rise in popularity I think we're almost certain to see Boris taking over the Tory party. He negates Farages strongest traits by simply being better at all of them.

As for writing him off as a buffoon, I'm actually disappointed in you Molly. That's exactly the same mistake that people have been making for years now as his profile has simply risen higher and higher. If you geniunely want to combat the man, then at least have the common sense to do it in a way that doesn't just make him stronger and stronger. What message exactly do you think it sends out to potential voters who hear him speak and agree with what he's saying when they hear his opponents call him stupid? You've basically just called them stupid too, and while that may indeed be true it's not exactly a great way to change minds.

[kentonio]

Ok, but going to an upper class school doesn't make you upper class, you just get a glimpse at their workings, and having a politician father (I thought he worked at the commission??) doesn't make you upper either, just more hilariously conceited, IMO.

He's distantly related to the British, Swedish and Dutch royal families and the Romanovs apparently, if that helps?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/poli...the-Queen.html

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

It beggars belief that I'm seeing apologism for colonialism. How is Britain's track record in colonialism in any way defensible?

Anyone claiming it was is lacking a brain, a heart, and/or a soul. Probably all three. Read a book, for feck's sake.

[Bereta_Eder]

He's distantly related to the British, Swedish and Dutch royal families and the Romanovs apparently, if that helps?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/poli...the-Queen.html

To be frank it doesn't actually.
He could be a fallen aristocrat (sic). It all depends on wether he was raised with a golden spoon in his mouth or not.
Obviously, the evidence mounts, that this was indeed the case.

[Hauldren Collider]

It beggars belief that I'm seeing apologism for colonialism. How is Britain's track record in colonialism in any way defensible?

Anyone claiming it was is lacking a brain, a heart, and/or a soul. Probably all three. Read a book, for feck's sake.

I think I haven't been defending colonialism at all, what I've been saying is that the withdrawal from the colonies was managed extremely poorly and the way in which western countries are trying to make up for it as it were is unproductive, and I think this Boris Johnson guy correctly recognizes that.

The US never had colonies*, so I wouldn't say that for us it's about a guilt trip, but I do think that the various nonprofit groups that run around africa trying to do good are, while well-intentioned, not actually helping in the long run.

*No, Liberia really doesn't count.
*The Phillipines really don't either, for that matter. We didn't run them the way the British ran the Sudan.

[regexcellent]

It only became Belgian Congo after 1908.

Yeah the Congo got a lot better when it wasn't the personal property of the King.

[DinoDoc]

The US never had colonies*,

We still have colonies.

[Sava]

yeah I don't know what that is about

it seems like they try extra hard to be wrong

says a lot about CMU's standards, if you ask me

[C0ckney]

Johnson is seen as a maverick who is willing to say what other politicians won't, stand up and argue with the accepted line and even (shockingly for a politician) admit when he's wrong or has made an arse of himself. Now obviously a lot of that is carefully stage managed, but the thing is it works. It works because it's such a refreshing change from the mass bulk of the political classes, and it makes him nearly untouchable because he has the priceless gift of being genuinely funny. Put together funny, self-deprecating, intelligent and eccentric and you have a character that's damn near irresistable to the UK public. Farage is a pale shadow of that by comparison, which is why if UKIP continue their rise in popularity I think we're almost certain to see Boris taking over the Tory party. He negates Farages strongest traits by simply being better at all of them.

yes it's a stage managed image, the "outsider" the "maverick"; it's totally ridiculous. the man couldn't be more establishment.

the difference, as with farage (and i disagree that boris is 'better' than farage - he is somewhat different) is this perceived honesty. i suppose i would put it like this: if one asked nigel farage what he'd had for breakfast he would probably say something like "full english: two sausages, two eggs, bacon, chips, toast, blood pudding, strong tea, with a ciggie afterwards and bloody good it was too."

if you asked the same question of the three main party leaders you'd probably get something like:

nick clegg: drowned out by the catcalls and shouts of angry students and others who feel betrayed by the lib dems.

ed miliband: would, having arrived late after checking the opinion polls, mumble something incoherent about hard working families working hard in one nation britain having breakfast, before scuttling off to consult a focus group to check he that he hadn't said anything too "lefty".

david cameron's discourse would be probably go something like: "now let me be clear about the need for straightforwardness and clarity, so as to avoid confusion about this clearly clear issue. it is clear that many people in britain have had breakfast this morning, and i too clearly have also had...."

[Dauphin]

What you mean is that Boris and Nigel are blunt. They may be dishonest but they answer the question where politicians^TM bloviate.