Boris Johnson lied during EU referendum campaign, court told
Boris Johnson lied when he repeatedly claimed during the 2016 referendum on EU membership that the UK sent £350m a week to Brussels, lawyers attempting to launch a private prosecution of the MP have told a court. A barrister acting for Marcus Ball, who has accused Johnson of misconduct in public office and raised more than £200,000 to finance the case, denied suggestions that it was a political stunt. “The only political stunt were the lies told by the proposed defendant,” Lewis Power QC told Westminster magistrates court on Thursday. Johnson was not present but a legal team assembled by him were in court. Setting out the case, which Ball spent nearly three years preparing, Lewis Power QC said it “mattered not” whether one voted Labour, Conservative or Liberal Democrat “or whether you are a leaver of a remainer”, adding: “Democracy demands responsible and honest leadership from those in public office.”
Johnson, both as an MP and mayor of London, chose to repeat “over and over and over a claim” he knew to be untrue, said Power, who went on to quote Winston Churchill on the duties of a member of parliament. Johnson had “inflated and grossly misrepresented” the facts, said Power, who alleged he had done so in the full knowledge of the impact the claims would have on those hearing them. Adrian Darbishire QC, for Johnson, had earlier told the court there was a danger of a misunderstanding that Johnson’s legal team had somehow conceded some element of the prospective case made by Ball. This was not the case, he said. Darbishire later told the judge: “I should make it clear that because of the interest in this case that it is absolutely denied by Mr Johnson that he acted in an improper or dishonest manner at any time.” The hearing continues.
Usually give this thread a miss with all of the silliness that usually goes on, but...
Suspect we're in for a very disappointing young voter turnout again. Voted @ around 3pm myself and had a cheeky look down the list of people who had been crossed out as the person was handing me my ballot paper. As I'm living in a University halls of residence atm, it's all young people on the list around me.
Our entire Uni accommodation was split up on the list depending which block we live in at the accommodation. There's about 60-70 people in my block. There can't have been more than 10 people from my block even registered to vote (One of whom was me listed twice somehow), and as of 3pm, I was the only person who had voted. Out of ~60ish,
Obvs small sample but if that's in any way representative of younger voter turnout nationwide, it looks like Farage is going to be winning more seats than expected.
Many papers predict that Theresa May will - as the Financial Times puts it - "finally call time" on her "ill-fated" spell as prime minister. The Daily Mirror says Mrs May is going of her own volition in order to avoid the "humiliation" of being kicked out by her own party. In its editorial, the Daily Mirror says it will be the end of a "wasted near three years" in Downing Street: "quite simply she wasn't up to the job". Mrs May is said to be driven by duty, the Daily Telegraph suggests. "In that case the most useful thing would be for her to announce her resignation - preferably today," its leader column says. "Britain does not have time for Theresa May's stalling" is the Sun's verdict. "The game is up. You cannot fix this, PM. Resign today." "It has been a brave effort, but now it's over," concludes the Daily Mail. Unusually for such a moment of high political drama, it says, it comes "not as a sudden unsettling catastrophe - or a moment of high political drama - but rather as a relief." The Times focuses on the race to succeed Mrs May, saying a poll it has commissioned suggests Boris Johnson is the "overwhelming favourite" among Conservative members. Perhaps not among MPs though - according to the Guardian - which says efforts are "already under way" by centrist ministers to stop Mr Johnson being one of the final two contenders members chose from.
Most of the newspapers carry the same image on their front page, showing a tearful Theresa May in the final moments of her resignation speech outside Downing Street. "A crying shame" is the headline on the front of the Daily Mail, which is among the papers fascinated by her public show of emotion. The columnist Jan Moir says her tears "reflected how invested she was in trying to clear up the Brexit mess". "One can only imagine the frustration, the anger, the regret and the utter exhaustion she has privately endured over these years," she says. The Daily Mirror's associate editor Kevin Maguire is less sympathetic for "The Crying Lady", as he calls her.
He urges readers to save their tears for "the millions whose lives she made worse". The Guardian's sketchwriter John Crace says it was "the day the Maybot cracked" and the prime minister "finally showed us her human side". But for Jane Moore in the Sun it was "all a bit too late". If she had "shown just one small flash of that passion in her dealings with the EU, she might have delivered Brexit," she concludes. She's not alone in pointing out the perceived personal flaws which - it's claimed - made Mrs May unsuitable for the top job. The Economist says she was "an introvert in a profession that demands a willingness to mingle with people and make them feel good about themselves". The Times columnist and Conservative peer Daniel Finkelstein offers two accounts of why she failed. The first, he suggests, is that she was "in over her head" with a "crippling lack of self belief" which meant she never had quite what it takes. A more generous assessment, he says, is that she was a tough realist, with a sense of duty, who was undone by a country deeply split by Brexit. Robin Harris in the Daily Telegraph offers a simpler explanation - "she failed because her heart wasn't in it and because she was the worst negotiator yet known in the field of public diplomacy".
Leadership contest There's much speculation about the runners and riders in the race to succeed her. "And they're off!" declares the Daily Mail which pictures the contenders - declared or otherwise - lined up astride horses. "Who'll be first past the post?" it asks, before providing odds on who may win the leadership race. The field includes Boris Johnson as the 5-4 favourite, with Dominic Raab on 6-1 and Steve Baker at 100-1. The Sun lists the pros and cons of each candidate. It describes Mr Johnson as "the Godfather of Brexit", but says he is "distrusted" and "disorganised... often not bothering to grasp the detail of issues". Mr Raab, it notes, is popular with Tory activists, but regarded as something of a "James Bond baddie" by his critics. Michael Gove it describes a "an ideas man" but says he is seen as "geeky and lacking the common touch". "Teario Theresa... Hello Bojo!" declares the Sun, which says Boris Johnson is the frontrunner in what it predicts will be a "bruising" leadership contest. The Daily Telegraph says his campaign has received a boost, with the Chancellor Phillip Hammond among those who have indicated they could back him. The paper says Mr Hammond has told friends he believes Mr Johnson may be the Tories' best chance of winning a general election, even though he has serious concerns about his views on a no-deal Brexit. Writing in The Sun, Fraser Nelson asks whether Mr Johnson will "self-destruct again". "Only Boris can stop a Boris win," he says.
'Brexit boost' for UK tourism proved a myth as £22.5bn deficit is revealed Visitor spending in UK slumped by 7 per cent as EU tourists stayed away due to uncertainty
A Brexit pledge that Britain would “out-compete other major tourism destinations” has fallen flat, with inbound travellers’ spending falling sharply in 2018. As a result of the slump in revenue, the UK’s “tourism deficit” is bigger than ever, estimated to be £22.5bn.
Soon after the EU referendum, pro-Brexit MPs lined up to enthuse about the benefits for UK tourism of leaving the European Union.
Boris Johnson: The most infamous lies and untruths by the Conservative leadership candidate Prominent Tory's falsehoods range from incorrect 14th century history to the EU banana police
Boris Johnson’s flirtation with dishonesty has cost him at least three jobs and damaged his standing with the people of Liverpool and London. The Conservative frontrunner is now facing a possible private prosecution for intentionally misleading voters during the EU referendum campaign.
And while he once told The Independent that his mistakes “are too numerous to list in full”, here is our roundup of his seven most notorius untruths.
His articles, like those in several other Eurosceptic newspapers, contained many of the claims widely described as “Euromyths”, including plans to introduce same-size “eurocoffins”, establish a “banana police force” to regulate the shape of the curved yellow fruit, and ban prawn cocktail crisps.
He was questioned about this claims while London mayor, but denied suggestions they were a figment of his imagination. “There is a great deal of effort being made to deprecate those who think we should leave the EU and everything we say is somehow mythical”, he replied.
Three years later he was forced to apologise for an article in the magazine which blamed drunken Liverpool fans for the 1989 Hillsborough disaster and suggested that the people of the city were wallowing in their victim status.
He was sacked from both positions in November 2004 after assuring Mr Howard that tabloid reports of his affair with Spectator columnist Petronella Wyatt were false and an “inverted pyramid of piffle”. When the story was found to be true, he refused to resign.
The Mayor’s flirtation with fallacy continued as London Mayor. Having promised in his 2008 manifesto to ensure there would be manned ticket offices at every train station, he agreed to widespread closures to pay for a 24-hour tube. He promised to eradicate rough sleeping by 2012, only for it to double during his leadership. He was also accused of telling “barefaced lies” after he stated that police numbers would increase in London despite government cuts.
Launching the Vote Leave bus tour, Mr Johnson returned to the scene of his earlier falsehoods by repeating his old allegations that the EU was setting rules on the shape of bananas.
In January Boris Johnson claimed he did not mention Turkey during the referendum after it was suggested he falsely claimed 80 million Turks would come to Britain unless the UK left the EU.
In fact, he co-signed a letter stating that “the only way to avoid having common borders with Turkey is to vote Leave and take back control”. The Vote Leave campaign also produced a poster reading: “Turkey (population 76 million) is joining the EU”, adding “David Cameron wants Turkey to join the EU. How will our NHS cope?”.
Mr Johnson’s Turkish cousin commented: “He doesn’t strike me as being very honest about his views.”
Boris Johnson: Tory leadership frontrunner's history of racist comments, from Muslim 'letter boxes' to African 'piccaninnies' Former foreign secretary has repeatedly been forced to apologise for offensive language
Boris Johnson: UK will leave EU in October, deal or no deal Tory leadership frontrunner sets out hardline Brexit stance after Theresa May’s resignation
Comments
This morning's prices from Ladbrokes;
Probably do a better job?
Boris Johnson lied when he repeatedly claimed during the 2016 referendum on EU membership that the UK sent £350m a week to Brussels, lawyers attempting to launch a private prosecution of the MP have told a court.
A barrister acting for Marcus Ball, who has accused Johnson of misconduct in public office and raised more than £200,000 to finance the case, denied suggestions that it was a political stunt.
“The only political stunt were the lies told by the proposed defendant,” Lewis Power QC told Westminster magistrates court on Thursday.
Johnson was not present but a legal team assembled by him were in court.
Setting out the case, which Ball spent nearly three years preparing, Lewis Power QC said it “mattered not” whether one voted Labour, Conservative or Liberal Democrat “or whether you are a leaver of a remainer”, adding: “Democracy demands responsible and honest leadership from those in public office.”
Johnson, both as an MP and mayor of London, chose to repeat “over and over and over a claim” he knew to be untrue, said Power, who went on to quote Winston Churchill on the duties of a member of parliament.
Johnson had “inflated and grossly misrepresented” the facts, said Power, who alleged he had done so in the full knowledge of the impact the claims would have on those hearing them.
Adrian Darbishire QC, for Johnson, had earlier told the court there was a danger of a misunderstanding that Johnson’s legal team had somehow conceded some element of the prospective case made by Ball. This was not the case, he said.
Darbishire later told the judge: “I should make it clear that because of the interest in this case that it is absolutely denied by Mr Johnson that he acted in an improper or dishonest manner at any time.”
The hearing continues.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/boris-johnson-lied-during-eu-referendum-campaign-court-told/ar-AABNmWN?ocid=spartandhp
The effects of Brexit stretch a long way;
http://chronicle.gi/2019/05/bet365-scale-gibraltar-operation-relocate-malta-citing-brexit/
Suspect we're in for a very disappointing young voter turnout again. Voted @ around 3pm myself and had a cheeky look down the list of people who had been crossed out as the person was handing me my ballot paper. As I'm living in a University halls of residence atm, it's all young people on the list around me.
Our entire Uni accommodation was split up on the list depending which block we live in at the accommodation. There's about 60-70 people in my block. There can't have been more than 10 people from my block even registered to vote (One of whom was me listed twice somehow), and as of 3pm, I was the only person who had voted. Out of ~60ish,
Obvs small sample but if that's in any way representative of younger voter turnout nationwide, it looks like Farage is going to be winning more seats than expected.
Many papers predict that Theresa May will - as the Financial Times puts it - "finally call time" on her "ill-fated" spell as prime minister.
The Daily Mirror says Mrs May is going of her own volition in order to avoid the "humiliation" of being kicked out by her own party.
In its editorial, the Daily Mirror says it will be the end of a "wasted near three years" in Downing Street: "quite simply she wasn't up to the job".
Mrs May is said to be driven by duty, the Daily Telegraph suggests. "In that case the most useful thing would be for her to announce her resignation - preferably today," its leader column says.
"Britain does not have time for Theresa May's stalling" is the Sun's verdict. "The game is up. You cannot fix this, PM. Resign today."
"It has been a brave effort, but now it's over," concludes the Daily Mail. Unusually for such a moment of high political drama, it says, it comes "not as a sudden unsettling catastrophe - or a moment of high political drama - but rather as a relief."
The Times focuses on the race to succeed Mrs May, saying a poll it has commissioned suggests Boris Johnson is the "overwhelming favourite" among Conservative members.
Perhaps not among MPs though - according to the Guardian - which says efforts are "already under way" by centrist ministers to stop Mr Johnson being one of the final two contenders members chose from.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-48391231
Mrs May leaves on June 7th.
Quite how that helps I'm not at all sure. The problems remain, & nobody seems prepared to yield any ground in order to achieve consensus.
The problem is never ever going to be solved in a satisfactory manner unless all sides give a little ground.
Most of the newspapers carry the same image on their front page, showing a tearful Theresa May in the final moments of her resignation speech outside Downing Street.
"A crying shame" is the headline on the front of the Daily Mail, which is among the papers fascinated by her public show of emotion.
The columnist Jan Moir says her tears "reflected how invested she was in trying to clear up the Brexit mess".
"One can only imagine the frustration, the anger, the regret and the utter exhaustion she has privately endured over these years," she says.
The Daily Mirror's associate editor Kevin Maguire is less sympathetic for "The Crying Lady", as he calls her.
He urges readers to save their tears for "the millions whose lives she made worse".
The Guardian's sketchwriter John Crace says it was "the day the Maybot cracked" and the prime minister "finally showed us her human side".
But for Jane Moore in the Sun it was "all a bit too late". If she had "shown just one small flash of that passion in her dealings with the EU, she might have delivered Brexit," she concludes.
She's not alone in pointing out the perceived personal flaws which - it's claimed - made Mrs May unsuitable for the top job.
The Economist says she was "an introvert in a profession that demands a willingness to mingle with people and make them feel good about themselves".
The Times columnist and Conservative peer Daniel Finkelstein offers two accounts of why she failed. The first, he suggests, is that she was "in over her head" with a "crippling lack of self belief" which meant she never had quite what it takes.
A more generous assessment, he says, is that she was a tough realist, with a sense of duty, who was undone by a country deeply split by Brexit.
Robin Harris in the Daily Telegraph offers a simpler explanation - "she failed because her heart wasn't in it and because she was the worst negotiator yet known in the field of public diplomacy".
Leadership contest
There's much speculation about the runners and riders in the race to succeed her.
"And they're off!" declares the Daily Mail which pictures the contenders - declared or otherwise - lined up astride horses.
"Who'll be first past the post?" it asks, before providing odds on who may win the leadership race.
The field includes Boris Johnson as the 5-4 favourite, with Dominic Raab on 6-1 and Steve Baker at 100-1.
The Sun lists the pros and cons of each candidate. It describes Mr Johnson as "the Godfather of Brexit", but says he is "distrusted" and "disorganised... often not bothering to grasp the detail of issues".
Mr Raab, it notes, is popular with Tory activists, but regarded as something of a "James Bond baddie" by his critics. Michael Gove it describes a "an ideas man" but says he is seen as "geeky and lacking the common touch".
"Teario Theresa... Hello Bojo!" declares the Sun, which says Boris Johnson is the frontrunner in what it predicts will be a "bruising" leadership contest.
The Daily Telegraph says his campaign has received a boost, with the Chancellor Phillip Hammond among those who have indicated they could back him. The paper says Mr Hammond has told friends he believes Mr Johnson may be the Tories' best chance of winning a general election, even though he has serious concerns about his views on a no-deal Brexit.
Writing in The Sun, Fraser Nelson asks whether Mr Johnson will "self-destruct again". "Only Boris can stop a Boris win," he says.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-48405551
'Brexit boost' for UK tourism proved a myth as £22.5bn deficit is revealed
Visitor spending in UK slumped by 7 per cent as EU tourists stayed away due to uncertainty
A Brexit pledge that Britain would “out-compete other major tourism destinations” has fallen flat, with inbound travellers’ spending falling sharply in 2018.
As a result of the slump in revenue, the UK’s “tourism deficit” is bigger than ever, estimated to be £22.5bn.
Soon after the EU referendum, pro-Brexit MPs lined up to enthuse about the benefits for UK tourism of leaving the European Union.
https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/brexit-uk-tourism-money-economy-visitor-numbers-deficit-travel-eu-tourists-a8929461.html
Prominent Tory's falsehoods range from incorrect 14th century history to the EU banana police
Boris Johnson’s flirtation with dishonesty has cost him at least three jobs and damaged his standing with the people of Liverpool and London.
The Conservative frontrunner is now facing a possible private prosecution for intentionally misleading voters during the EU referendum campaign.
And while he once told The Independent that his mistakes “are too numerous to list in full”, here is our roundup of his seven most notorius untruths.
His articles, like those in several other Eurosceptic newspapers, contained many of the claims widely described as “Euromyths”, including plans to introduce same-size “eurocoffins”, establish a “banana police force” to regulate the shape of the curved yellow fruit, and ban prawn cocktail crisps.
He was questioned about this claims while London mayor, but denied suggestions they were a figment of his imagination.
“There is a great deal of effort being made to deprecate those who think we should leave the EU and everything we say is somehow mythical”, he replied.
Three years later he was forced to apologise for an article in the magazine which blamed drunken Liverpool fans for the 1989 Hillsborough disaster and suggested that the people of the city were wallowing in their victim status.
He was sacked from both positions in November 2004 after assuring Mr Howard that tabloid reports of his affair with Spectator columnist Petronella Wyatt were false and an “inverted pyramid of piffle”. When the story was found to be true, he refused to resign.
The Mayor’s flirtation with fallacy continued as London Mayor. Having promised in his 2008 manifesto to ensure there would be manned ticket offices at every train station, he agreed to widespread closures to pay for a 24-hour tube.
He promised to eradicate rough sleeping by 2012, only for it to double during his leadership. He was also accused of telling “barefaced lies” after he stated that police numbers would increase in London despite government cuts.
Launching the Vote Leave bus tour, Mr Johnson returned to the scene of his earlier falsehoods by repeating his old allegations that the EU was setting rules on the shape of bananas.
In January Boris Johnson claimed he did not mention Turkey during the referendum after it was suggested he falsely claimed 80 million Turks would come to Britain unless the UK left the EU.
In fact, he co-signed a letter stating that “the only way to avoid having common borders with Turkey is to vote Leave and take back control”. The Vote Leave campaign also produced a poster reading: “Turkey (population 76 million) is joining the EU”, adding “David Cameron wants Turkey to join the EU. How will our NHS cope?”.
Mr Johnson’s Turkish cousin commented: “He doesn’t strike me as being very honest about his views.”
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-johnson-lies-conservative-leader-candidate-list-times-banana-brexit-bus-a8929076.html
Former foreign secretary has repeatedly been forced to apologise for offensive language
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-johnson-racist-tory-leadership-muslims-letter-box-piccaninnies-conservative-party-a8929376.html
Tory leadership frontrunner sets out hardline Brexit stance after Theresa May’s resignation
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/may/24/boris-johnson-favourite-as-uk-to-have-new-pm-by-end-of-july