Profile picture
AJ+
, 13 tweets, 5 min read Read on Twitter
Boris Johnson is Britain's new prime minister, despite a career filled with instances of incompetence, dishonesty, bigotry and racism that might have barred him from the job a few short years ago. @FutbolsaCountry parses Johnson's rap sheet for AJ+. (1/13)
Johnson has a reputation for reckless blunders. One example: as Foreign Secretary, his remarks about Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe, a Reuters employee jailed in Iran, were used against her by Iranian officials. She's still in jail. (2/13) theguardian.com/news/2019/jun/…
The UK's new prime minister is Islamophobic. Last year he compared Muslim women wearing niqab to "letterboxes" and "bank robbers." This prompted a spike in hate crimes, with victims targeted by assailants who repeated Boris Johnson’s exact words. (3/13) newstatesman.com/politics/uk/20…
Prime Minister Johnson has written racist articles about Africans, even advocating for Africa to be recolonized. When called out for writing of "piccaninnies" with "watermelon smiles," he tried to defend himself by claiming he was being "satirical." (4/13) qz.com/africa/731695/…
Johnson also defaults to juvenile stereotypes. He once asked if Chancellor Angela Merkel had served in East Germany's secret police, and wondered why Ireland’s Prime Minister Leo Varadkar "isn’t called Murphy like all the rest of them." (5/13) irishtimes.com/opinion/boris-…
Johnson also has a public record of homophobia, deriding "tank-topped bumboys" and comparing same-sex marriage to bestiality. (6/13) pinknews.co.uk/2019/07/23/new…
In 1990, Boris Johnson was recorded colluding with a friend who was planning to beat up a journalist. Johnson told his friend he would supply him with the home address of the journalist in question. (7/13) theguardian.com/politics/2019/…
Johnson's relationships with women have long been the subject of public scrutiny. Most recently, police were called to his girlfriend’s house last month when neighbors heard "slamming and banging" and a woman screaming. (8/13) theguardian.com/politics/2019/…
Boris Johnson was fired from The Times for fabricating quotes. At the Daily Telegraph he had a habit of making up or exaggerating stories about insane-sounding EU regulations – a habit that continues. (9/13) theguardian.com/politics/2019/…
As London mayor, Boris Johnson accomplished little but became known for his predilection for expensive vanity projects. He spent £43 million of public money on a "garden bridge" that doesn’t exist. (10/13) bbc.com/news/uk-englan…
How has Boris Johnson's political career survived, and what does his ascendancy tell us about UK politics? @OwenJones84 says it's a depressing example of the UK class system in action. (11/13)
Johnson has situated himself in a white supremacist tradition through endless comparisons with Winston Churchill. He's also been linked to right-wing figures in the U.S. like Steve Bannon. Trump described him as a British Trump this week. (12/13) theguardian.com/us-news/2019/j…
It's impossible to understand Boris Johnson's ascent without understanding the power of a particular kind of English humor. Johnson has consistently framed himself as a clown and his political career as a joke. But who’s the butt of the joke? (13/13) nybooks.com/articles/2019/…
Missing some Tweet in this thread?
You can try to force a refresh.

Like this thread? Get email updates or save it to PDF!

Subscribe to AJ+
Profile picture

Get real-time email alerts when new unrolls are available from this author!

This content may be removed anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime, convert it as a PDF, save and print for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video

1) Follow Thread Reader App on Twitter so you can easily mention us!

2) Go to a Twitter thread (series of Tweets by the same owner) and mention us with a keyword "unroll" @threadreaderapp unroll

You can practice here first or read more on our help page!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just three indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3.00/month or $30.00/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!