Some of us watched British television yesterday the orderly transition from a Conservative Government to a new Conservative Government. The new Prime Minister gave powerful positions to proponents with leanings towards the Far Right.
The new Prime Minister, Theresa May gave the usual one line rhetorics about equality in society in her brief speech to the press.
She told the poor and working people: “We will do everything we can to give you more control over your lives.” Sadly, the elite, rich and powerful have no idea of the desperate plight of the poor, who have been largely ignored for years, except for a few extra crumbs.
Afterwards, the PM appointed right wing Conservatives, such as Boris Johnson, David Davies, Liam Fox and Amber Rudd (former “aristocracy co-ordinator” for the film Four Weddings and a Funeral).
The new Prime Minister has appointed Boris Johnson to be Britain’s Foreign Secretary (Minister), one of the top three positions in Government. Johnson lead the Brexit campaign for Britain to leave the EU.
Millions of citizens will rightly question her judgement in the appointment of Johnson to public office. Her credibility has taken a nosedive within an hour or two of becoming Prime Minister.
Year after year, Boris Johnson comes across as emotionally immature, crude and a vulgar racist. He shares much in common with Donald Trump, who is only five points behind Hilary Clinton and predicted to win numerous key states in the race to be US President.
Here are some comments over the past decade or so from the UK Minister for Foreign Affairs, Boris Johnson.
In Alphabetical order:
- On Africa: It is said that the Queen has come to love the Commonwealth, partly because it supplies her with regular cheering crowds of flag-waving piccaninnies… (piccaninnies is a derogatory word for black children).
- On China “Chinese cultural influence is virtually nil, and unlikely to increase…”
- On Citizens of Arab Countries: “When [Churchill] wrote his 1922 white paper that paved the way for accelerated Jewish entry into Palestine, Churchill imagined Jews and Arabs living side by side, with technically expert Jewish farmers helping the Arabs to drive tractors.”
- On former Governor of California/film actor, Arnold Schwarzenegger. “It was a low moment, my friends, to have my rhetorical skills denounced by a monosyllabic Austrian cyborg.”
- On Gay Marriage: “If gay marriage was OK – and I was uncertain on the issue – then I saw no reason in principle why a union should not be consecrated between three men, as well as two men; or indeed three men and a dog.”
- On Greece; “First they make us pay in our taxes for Greek olive groves, many of which probably don’t exist.
- On Hillary Clinton: “She’s got dyed blonde hair and pouty lips, and a steely blue stare, like a sadistic nurse in a mental hospital”.
- On Immigrants: “London is a fantastic creator of jobs – but many of these jobs are going to people who don’t originate in this country.”
- On Papua New Guinea: “For 10 years we in the Tory Party have become used to Papua New Guinea-style orgies of cannibalism and chief-killing, and so it is with a happy amazement that we watch as the madness engulfs the Labour Party.”
- On Portsmouth: Portsmouth is “one of the most depressed downs in southern England, a place that is arguably too full of drugs, obesity, underachievement and Labour MPs”.
- On President Barack Obama and his background: “Some said it was a symbol of the part-Kenyan president’s ancestral dislike of the British empire. (on rumours of a removal of a bust of Winston Churchill from the US President’s office).
- On President Erdogen of Turkey. In his vulgar poem, Johnson wrote the President of Turkey had sex with a goat. The Spectator, a Conservative magazine, awarded him a poetry prize.
There was a young fellow from Ankara
Who was a terrific wankerer
Till he sowed his wild oats
With the help of a goat
But he didn’t even stop to thankera
13. On the rich: “We should be helping all those who can to join the ranks of the super-rich, and we should stop any bashing or moaning or preaching or bitching and simply give thanks for the prodigious sums of money that they are contributing to the tax revenues of this country.
14. On Uganda: “If left to their own devices, the natives would rely on nothing but the instant carbohydrate gratification of the plantain.”
15. On Women: “Voting Tory will cause your wife to have bigger breasts and increase your chances of owning a BMW M3.”
16. On Women: On why women go to university. “They’ve got to find men to marry.”
Boris Johnson will travel the world representing Britain.
Before he takes his first flight, he needs to wash his mouth out with soap and water, then go into daily psychotherapy, attend retreats, develop empathy and wisdom.
Boris Johnson then will be ready to show respect for people from a diversity of backgrounds, cultures and societies. He will then have the capacity to have thoughtful discussions with those with a different view in order to make progressive steps forward.