Boris v. Brown
James Forsyth 3:49pm
The free sheets in London are leading on Boris’s attack on Gordon Brown in his Telegraph column this morning. The column is full of good knock-about stuff but what has attracted the papers’ attention is this passage—the banner headline on one of them ‘Like a drunk’:
One of Boris’s gifts is that he is a politician who can tap into the anti-politics mood which is what, I suspect, he has done here with his column. The image of Brown as a reckless man taking huge gambles in a desperate attempt to save his own skin is a potent one as it draws both on negative sentiments about Brown and politicians more generally.“He is like some sherry-crazed old dowager who has lost the family silver at roulette, and who now decides to double up by betting the house as well. He is like a drunk who has woken to the most appalling hangover, and who reaches for the whisky bottle to help him dull the pain.”
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Comments
Rob Atkins
November 25th, 2008 4:04pmExcellent Boris, A perfect picture ! Was it Mr Lincoln who said, "you can fool some of the people all the time, and all the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time ..." ?
Ray
November 25th, 2008 5:52pmAnd now that Brown has bet the house the whole country is left trembling, just praying that the ball tumbles into Number 25 Red!
The Laughing Cavalier
November 25th, 2008 5:55pmIt would seem that Brown is hoping that the people he can fool all of the time are sufficient in number to save his skin.
Colin
November 25th, 2008 6:47pmRob Atkins @ 4:04pm: "Excellent Boris, A perfect picture ! Was it Mr Lincoln who said, "you can fool some of the people all the time, and all the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time ..." ?"
No, that was gordon brown, yesterday evening, after he'd finally been found out.
Keith
November 25th, 2008 7:39pmWell done that man!!
Tankus
November 25th, 2008 8:14pmActually it was the sniggering of Brown , while Osborne was damming the government .... disturbed me the most ......!
Straw was looking on....appalled !
Like a sketch in Dr Strangelove.
If the CND want proof of why we should not have Nukes ...Brown is their poster boy ...!
Scary stuff really
Tom FD
November 25th, 2008 11:34pmThe trouble is, something I don't know if even Gordon realises, he's not gambling with his own money. He's putting all of US in debt. Gordon's got a gold-plated pension on the cards, it barely affects him!
Henry
November 26th, 2008 12:29amTankus, I noticed that too. Brown was sitting there, feeling smug, exchanging snide remarks. Is it just me or did he appear to be trying to talk so that he didn't hear Osborne?
Frank P
November 26th, 2008 1:49amBoris blew his last vestige of credibility last week with his 'amnesty for illegals' shtick. It's return to HIGNFY time, I'm afraid. What a donkey!
Tim Carpenter LPUK
November 26th, 2008 10:39amJust because Boris comes out with nonsense like the amnesty, does not mean he is not right on the money this time.
Verity
November 26th, 2008 4:23pmDoes Boris Johnson not know that the United States went down the amnesty route for illegals, thus prompting millions more to flood across their borders? Not a trickle. Millions were encouraged to take a risk and sneak in. Doesn't he know Italy's given THREE LAST AND FINAL amnesties and illegals are jammed in the door getting in?
Is Johnson really so politically illiterate that he doesn't know that amnesties have the opposite of the intended effect, and that this have been proved, on a very large scale, time and again?