Is Boris finished?

20Cent

A morning interview on the BBC to plug a documentary and a little chat turns into a cringe fest for Boris Johnson. He ends up admitting to making up quotes, helping a friend find someone to physically assault and lying about an affair.
Good to see a journalist actually give a politician a grilling instead of a fluff piece.
Video: http://youtu.be/fj686CmGGSA
Story as reported in the Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/mar/24/boris-johnson-interview-eddie-mair

Johnson has managed to ride the wave of the Olympics and come across as a bit eccentric but essentially a nice guy. This interview shows him for what he is "a nasty piece of work".

Is this the end of Boris?

Fratton Fred

Having only read the guardian's report, it looks like an unfair interview from someone who is showboating.

20Cent

Fratton Fred wrote: »

Having only read the guardian's report, it looks like an unfair interview from someone who is showboating.

How can an interview be unfair?
Because he didn't just give Johnson a free party political broadcast?

Jonny7

Yet in the latest Yougov poll

Chucky the tree

He'll be fine. guardian will obviously try to hype this up a bit but I think it'll be considered fairly irrelevant.

20Cent

Its not just the guardian all the papers are covering it. The lying is to be expected but handing over the address of a journalist to someone who wants to assault them should be a matter for the police.

LincolnsBeard

Boris has the advantage of never pretending to be a Christ-like figure.

David Cameron would have been absolutely finished if a phone recording surfaced of him co-opting in a potential assault.

I am pie

The allegations around the quotes and the affair reflected pretty badly on the journalist. He had enough to go on with the serious allegations about the attack, reeked of showboating.

oppenheimer1

Jonny7 wrote: »

Yet in the latest Yougov poll

When was that poll processed? Because the interview only took place yesterday.

With Boris actually positioning himself for a run at the big job, there will be more people out to get him. He has a persona as an aloof oaf however he is a sly cunning politician, appearing to be only motivated by ambition.

Its about time he was exposed to some real questioning. Its a pity we don't have an interviewer like Mair to fillet our politicians.

Jonny7

oppenheimer1 wrote: »

Its a pity we don't have an interviewer like Mair to fillet our politicians.

Looks like you're in agreement with Boris then who praised Mair as doing a "splendid" job.

Fratton Fred

20Cent wrote: »

How can an interview be unfair?
Because he didn't just give Johnson a free party political broadcast?

Because none of it was relevant news. It was like inviting Gerry Adams on to a show to discuss the household tax and instead giving him a grilling about the disappeared.

KyussBishop

What was Mair supposed to do, have a polite conversation and avoid rudely catching him out with unexpected questions?

Journalists are meant to be adversarial, not subservient; this was a perfectly good and well executed grilling of Johnson, that brings to public focus some notable aspects of his negative character. Exactly what a journalist should do.

Gloomtastic!

Watched the documentary on Beeb 2 about him last night. The interview on Sunday and all the intervening press was just publicity for the documentary I'm afraid.

All the same 'scandals' were covered in the documentary and brushed off in usual Boris style, and quite convincingly.

Fascinating bloke though, his biggest downfall and the one that if anything, will keep him off the top job, is his inability to control his dick!

who the fug

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

Watched the documentary on Beeb 2 about him last night. The interview on Sunday and all the intervening press was just publicity for the documentary I'm afraid.

All the same 'scandals' were covered in the documentary and brushed off in usual Boris style, and quite convincingly.

Fascinating bloke though, his biggest downfall and the one that if anything, will keep him off the top job, is his inability to control his dick!

Unless he comes out fighting like Steve The Shagger Noris, the act is never the problem covering it up is

AlekSmart

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

Watched the documentary on Beeb 2 about him last night. The interview on Sunday and all the intervening press was just publicity for the documentary I'm afraid.

All the same 'scandals' were covered in the documentary and brushed off in usual Boris style, and quite convincingly.

Fascinating bloke though, his biggest downfall and the one that if anything,will keep him off the top job, is his inability to control his dick!

Watched the BBC2 documentary also.

I don't know of any other Political figure today,except perhaps Mr Ahmadinejad who could have completed the course last night.

It was interesting to see how he even managed to stump a grizzled old pro like Ken Livingston with his individuality and totally unpredictable nature.

I'd suggest the entire Interview has put another few notches on his Political Phallus,as he might say himself :eek:

I think Ian(Private Eye) Hislop summed it up accurately,Boris Johnson is the only politician in the UK,and perhaps the British Isles,not caught up in the doom n gloom of the current political scene.

In an era where sober grey suited respectable types of gentlemen have held total sway over the political and financial worlds to somewhat disasterous effect,it's perhaps worth the risk to let loose a Boris every now and then.....if only "pour encourager les autres"

whippet

I will admit to not knowing much about Boris and have only started to get interested in him since he has been mentioned as a potential Tory leader. After the BBC interview on sunday morning, I had some mixed views and felt that he handled the line of difficult questioning badly, however, having watched the show last night, he came across as a much more complex person and the sunday interview paled in to insignificance.

The guy is somewhat of an enigma, the Eton / Oxford upbringing and seemingly witless eccentric middle english charm is something that could be a force in a nation which is moving towards wanting to grab hold of everything patriotic and stereotypical english.

the next few years of Boris watching should be very interesting.

oppenheimer1

Fratton Fred wrote: »

Because none of it was relevant news. It was like inviting Gerry Adams on to a show to discuss the household tax and instead giving him a grilling about the disappeared.

And that's the kind of grilling Gerry should be getting.

LindowMan

Fratton Fred wrote: »

Having only read the guardian's report, it looks like an unfair interview from someone who is showboating.

The BBC is notorious for treating Conservative politicians much more harshly than any Labour politician.

The interviewer was disgraceful and he would not have treated a Labour politician like that.

LindowMan

Jonny7 wrote: »

Yet in the latest Yougov poll

Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage are the two most popular politicians in Britain at the moment.

Farage is the most popular party leader, according to polls.