Allegedly loveable buffoon Boris Johnson has thrown his multicoloured ski-hat into the ring for the race to become London’s mayor. Boris, like the Conservative Party itself, has no actual programme, (replying to a reporter who asked him what his policies would be, “London is a great city”), but the root of his popularity lies not in his political outlook, but his frequent outspoken faux pas, which delight many who see him as an eccentric antidote to the stuffed grey suits who populate political life today.
Boris has taken a swing at many of the worst aspects of contemporary politics, expressing in a fairly bluff and blundering way a perfectly understandable wish for people to be robust and autonomous. In October 2004 he famously criticised Liverpudlians for ‘wallowing’ in their ‘victim status’ following the execution of Ken Bigley by Iraqi insurgents. At the 2006 Conservative Party conference he caused uproar for criticising Jamie Oliver and the government’s insidious regulation of lifestyles, saying ‘if I was in charge, I would get rid of Jamie Oliver and tell people to eat what they like;’ he also stood up for the reviled women who give junk food to their kids at break time: ‘I say let people eat what they like. Why shouldn’t they push pies through the railings?’ In April 2007 he called Portsmouth ‘one of the most depressed towns in southern England,’ being ‘too full of drugs, obesity, underachievement and Labour MPs.’
The reason people warm to Boris is that he dares to say things that mainstream politicians don’t. Indeed, the reactions to his various outbursts (which are invariably described as ‘gaffes’ rather than as legitimate expressions of opinion) show the extent to which free speech is curtailed even for our elected representatives. Michael Howard despatched Boris to Liverpool to do penance, he was made to revoke his comments about Jamie Oliver (while the Conference passed a resolution commending the celebrity chef), Portsmouth LibDem MP Mike Hancock called for Boris to be sacked over his Portsmouth ‘insult’, and Boris also had to apologise to the entire population of Papua New Guinea when its High Commissioner protested against a flippant remark about ‘Papua New Guinea-style orgies of cannibalism and chief-killing’ in the Conservative party. He was backed by his party only once, over Portsmouth.
It’s disappointing, but not surprising, that even our elected leaders feel a need to back down, self-censor and apologise for speech that sensitive individuals find insulting. Although I’m pretty sure that Boris couldn’t run a piss-up in a brewery and would be a disastrous mayor of London, he deserves commendation for the sheer (and deliberate) insincerity of his enforced apologies. Over Liverpool (where surely no more than three copies of the Spectator are read annually, in any case), he said, ‘I am a squeezed lemon on this subject’, and his comedic media blitz betrayed both a good sense of humour and his total lack of genuine remorse. Over Jamie Oliver, he recanted in ridiculously fulsome terms, saying Oliver was ‘a national saint’. And over Papua, he said, ‘I meant no insult to the people of Papua New Guinea, who I’m sure lead lives of blameless bourgeois domesticity in common with the rest of us,’ promising to ‘add Papua New Guinea to my global itinerary of apology.’
Now, if only serious politicians could take a leaf out of Boris’s book, and dare to break, rather than make, taboos.
Boris has taken a swing at many of the worst aspects of contemporary politics, expressing in a fairly bluff and blundering way a perfectly understandable wish for people to be robust and autonomous. In October 2004 he famously criticised Liverpudlians for ‘wallowing’ in their ‘victim status’ following the execution of Ken Bigley by Iraqi insurgents. At the 2006 Conservative Party conference he caused uproar for criticising Jamie Oliver and the government’s insidious regulation of lifestyles, saying ‘if I was in charge, I would get rid of Jamie Oliver and tell people to eat what they like;’ he also stood up for the reviled women who give junk food to their kids at break time: ‘I say let people eat what they like. Why shouldn’t they push pies through the railings?’ In April 2007 he called Portsmouth ‘one of the most depressed towns in southern England,’ being ‘too full of drugs, obesity, underachievement and Labour MPs.’
The reason people warm to Boris is that he dares to say things that mainstream politicians don’t. Indeed, the reactions to his various outbursts (which are invariably described as ‘gaffes’ rather than as legitimate expressions of opinion) show the extent to which free speech is curtailed even for our elected representatives. Michael Howard despatched Boris to Liverpool to do penance, he was made to revoke his comments about Jamie Oliver (while the Conference passed a resolution commending the celebrity chef), Portsmouth LibDem MP Mike Hancock called for Boris to be sacked over his Portsmouth ‘insult’, and Boris also had to apologise to the entire population of Papua New Guinea when its High Commissioner protested against a flippant remark about ‘Papua New Guinea-style orgies of cannibalism and chief-killing’ in the Conservative party. He was backed by his party only once, over Portsmouth.
It’s disappointing, but not surprising, that even our elected leaders feel a need to back down, self-censor and apologise for speech that sensitive individuals find insulting. Although I’m pretty sure that Boris couldn’t run a piss-up in a brewery and would be a disastrous mayor of London, he deserves commendation for the sheer (and deliberate) insincerity of his enforced apologies. Over Liverpool (where surely no more than three copies of the Spectator are read annually, in any case), he said, ‘I am a squeezed lemon on this subject’, and his comedic media blitz betrayed both a good sense of humour and his total lack of genuine remorse. Over Jamie Oliver, he recanted in ridiculously fulsome terms, saying Oliver was ‘a national saint’. And over Papua, he said, ‘I meant no insult to the people of Papua New Guinea, who I’m sure lead lives of blameless bourgeois domesticity in common with the rest of us,’ promising to ‘add Papua New Guinea to my global itinerary of apology.’
Now, if only serious politicians could take a leaf out of Boris’s book, and dare to break, rather than make, taboos.
Lee Jones
No comments:
Post a Comment