Boris Johnson - Ocean Going Hypocrite

Six months ago, London’s increasingly occasional Mayor Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson gave German magazine Der Spiegel an interview, during which he said “Look, we can't leave Europe … We're always going to be a part of Europe psychologically … I believe in the free market of services and all those things … My ideal world is, we're there, we're in the EU, trying to make it better”. Six months ago.

 A total Muppet. And a character from Sesame Street

But that was then, and with Young Dave not leading the Tories into the next General Election, there is an opening for that particularly shameless and calculating politician that Bozza undoubtedly is. So this afternoon, in front of the waiting hacks and snappers, and in time for his pals in the press to arrange plenty of front page coverage for tomorrow’s first editions, out he came from his reassuringly expensive London house. And guess what?

As the BBC has told, “Mayor of London Boris Johnson has said he has decided ‘after a huge amount of heartache’ to campaign for Britain to leave the EU … He said the EU was eroding British sovereignty and PM David Cameron's reform deal would not bring about the fundamental change that was needed”. The adulation from the right-wing press was, of course, purely incidental. And if you believe that, you’ll believe anything.

So now the unappealing Gang Of Six - Michael “Oiky” Gove, Iain Duncan Cough, dodgy John Whittingdale, Theresa “Who?” Villiers, Priti “Motormouth” Patel and terminally inept Chris Grayling, has a seventh unappealing member. What difference will this make to the Outers’ campaign? Ah well. Here we enter the wonderful and wacky world of the Westminster media bubble, where reality is permanently out of phase.

Because Bozza - like “Oiky” Gove - is one of their own, and they all know him, the hacks and pundits assume that he is universally popular. They are prepared to forget the 800 vanity buses, the vanity cable car, the appalling air quality, the waste of money on two water cannon, cuts to policing and firefighters, shortage of affordable housing, the mess caused by Uber, the broken promises over ticket office closures, and the rest.

Boris Johnson is not a talismanic figure outside London - and not as popular in London as many of those in the media bubble believe. If he were to fetch up with his schtick by the Pier Head in Liverpool, the only thing it would get him would be chucked in the Mersey in short order. His presence would cut no ice in Scotland. Or Wales. Or across the rest of the north of England. The press is zealously promoting a false prophet.

And, as his ability to make a U-Turn on the issue du jour demonstrates, Bozza is a hypocrite of the least trustworthy kind. It would not surprise anyone if he spent the next few weeks opposing Britain’s membership of the EU, only to then do a “crikey” and a “cripes chaps”, before deciding that he was only joking and was joining Dave in wanting to stay in. Neither side in the upcoming referendum needs a charlatan like him.

As for the Tory leadership, which he wants, despite claiming otherwise, he can forget it. Bozza is about to leave City Hall to become another of yesterday’s men. The end.