Thread by @fascinatorfun

“Johnson’s own model is surely not the honourable Tom but the contemptible cad Harry Flashman, as he is so hilariously reimagined in George MacDonald Fraser’s The Flashman Papers. The arch-bounder was sometimes suggested as an avatar for David Cameron... theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

2/ “...but he is surely a better match for Johnson. He rises inexorably to become Sir Harry Flashman VC and brazenly informs us that “all my fame and glory has been earned by accident, false pretence, cowardice, doing the dirty, and blind luck”.

3/. “Flashman makes his career in the military and explains: “Some human faults are military virtues, like stupidity, and arrogance, and narrow-mindedness.”

4/
“Some human faults – mendacity, cynicism, opportunism, bluster, recklessness – are political virtues. But only up to a point. Those qualities have taken Johnson to the pinnacle of power. Shamelessness is practically a requirement for high office. “

5/
“.. Trust is still an asset and Johnson’s stock of it is fatally low, not least in Dublin, where he will meet the taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, on Monday.”

6/

“The backstop that has been the cause of so much angst for the Brexiters exists quite simply because Ireland is not prepared to take on trust British reassurances that everything will be fine on the border.”

7/
“There are deep historic reasons why any Irish government would prefer written legally binding guarantees to such vague insouciance. “

8/

“Nobody with a stim of wit has ever believed that Johnson tells the truth about anything. What he has been able to create instead is the willing suspension of disbelief.

9/
“Like an audience in the theatre, his editors, readers and political supporters have maintained an unwritten contract with him. In the endless show known as “Boris being Boris”, he will tell them not what is true conservative leadership but what they want to believe”

You only have to look at the Leadership contest to see this in action.

Polling suggested that even amongst those who voted for him he was not regarded as truthful or trustworthy.

But they wanted to believe that he WOULD convince others.

B.E.L.I.E.V.E

The swan song of Brexit

11/

“in his own construction of Boris-as-Winston had encouraged his fans to contemplate the idea that the great Churchill was a bit of a bounder himself – until the great hour of destiny called forth his true self and he saved the nation. ...

12/

“There was no emerging butterfly of statesmanship just the threadbare cocoon of adolescent debating society antics”.

13/...

“No self-respecting parliament could go along with what Johnson and Dominic Cummings wanted Westminster to do, which is not just to render itself impotent but to collude in an obvious lie about why it was being suspended....

14/

“That collective self-respect was mirrored in the dignity of the relatively small but crucial group of Tory MPs who simply could not abide the self-abasement that Johnson demanded of them.”

15/

“We sometimes mock politicians for their self-importance, but last week was a reminder of why it matters that enough of them think sufficiently highly of themselves not to be content to go down in history as mere toadies.”

16/

I do wonder: When are the other Tory MPs going to stop being toadies and flunkies to this vacuous whoopie cushion?

Who will follow if only to gather back some remnants of self respect.

Because they voted him in. Time they took responsibility and said “Enough”.

I don’t even believe that Johnson truly wants that for which he is ruining himself and his country.

He is overtaken by a sickness of spirit and character.