Another popular Western leader falls, the victim of covid overreach. The Wall Street Journal ran an article this morning headlined, “U.K.’s Boris Johnson to Resign After Scandals Grow Too Great to Handle.”[clip]
Vast political skullduggery was on display yesterday as insiders plotted, cabals met in back rooms, operatives sharpened their political knives, all while Johnson’s defensive forces were draining away like water out of the palace’s hot tub, and all while the politicians publicly chatted politely with each other about the unseasonably hot weather in the hallways of power. The British are better at dark politics than anyone.
The article explained that by morning, Johnson had turned loose of his goal to stick it out, and has agreed to resign. He wants to continue as “custodian” until elections in August, which would deprive his party of a chance to appoint a successor. We’ll see if they let him, but I doubt it. Someone who wants to cling to a disgraced office that badly is probably a man who desperately needs to bury some bodies before he turns the lights off and hands in his key.
There’s a reason I’m spending all this time on this story. The Journal claims Johnson fell because of “a series of scandals,” but only names two. They’re worth looking at.
The first scandal you already know about: the hedonistic parties at Number 10 Downing Street — the prime minister’s official residence slash offices. If you were a connected politician during the harsh British lockdowns, that’s where you went to vent a little steam. They let the good times roll. Worse, Johnson had denied any parties occurred — to Parliament — several times before he was forced by the quick rush of events to admit it all HAD, in fact, happened. Having the parties was “bad judgment.” So was lying.
So that’s one.
The second enumerated scandal was Johnson’s appointment of Chris Pincher as Deputy Chief Whip, which among other things runs the party’s pastoral care and discipline. Pincher owns a long, neatly-tucked-away history of complaints about unwanted sexual advances toward young men. Groping and such. In typical British understatement, they’re calling Pincher the “Chief Whip sex pest.” And apparently a bunch of people knew about it, including Johnson, who knew about Pincher’s pestilent little problem for years.
Someone leaked it. Someone who knew about Pincher AND about Johnson knowing about Pincher. Think about that for a second. It had to be someone at the top level of government, someone who knew Pincher’s dirty little secret and the coverups, and most significantly, knew that Johnson had been told and had promoted Pincher anyway. So the leaker must have been one of the top members of his own party.
In other words, they shanked Boris Johnson, the hero of Brexit, right between the shoulder blades. Et tu, Brute? Or, if you want to be properly British, you might simply call the whole sordid episode Johnson’s involuntary retirement.
Getting to the point, Johnson is reaping the harvest of his own stupid lockdowns, mandates, and executive orders. His wantonly destructive covid policies infuriated people and pushed his popularity dial over towards unpopularity. The lockdowns made people who disliked Johnson actively hate him. They made people who were neutral to Johnson into folks who strongly disliked him. And they made Johnson’s own supporters less ardent, and less willing to support him when the political rubber hit the road. Which it yesterday.
I described the Pincher scandal so you could understand that Johnson’s fall was NOT because of “a series of scandals.” The pedo appointments had been going on for YEARS. They were leaked to wound Johnson BECAUSE everyone hates him now, and because Johnson lied about exempting himself and his buddies from his despised covid lockdown policies.
☕️ Coffee & Covid ☙ Thursday, July 7, 2022 ☙ SHANKED 🦠
Boris Johnson involuntarily retires; Georgia Guidestones explode; FBI and MI5 team up against China; Monkeypox cases double in NYC; and today's funniest meme.
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