Friday 13 February 2009

Boris F***s Up

I got an email asking what I thought of Boris Johnson's tirade of expletives at Keith Vaz. To be honest I hadn't thought anything of it until I was asked. Being a punk rocker with a cupboard full of vinyl which would have a "parental guidance" sticker on if it was released today, the idea that there is anything shocking about two grown men swearing at each other on a private phonecall is ridiculous. It doesn't shock me, outrage me or disgust me. If he was swearing at my Auntie, I'd be upset, but Keith Vaz is a big boy.

It does strike me that Boris has not done himself too many favours. The Tory press such as the Daily Mail can hardly rail against "Foul Mouthed Yobbo's" if their pin up boy talks like this, can they? Boris has cultivated an image of being a dotty intellectual. We expect something a bit cleverer and a bit funnier from Boris when he's upset. If he'd rung up and said "Mr Vaz, Coitus Holidayicus et Mortis" we'd have chuckled and said "Good old Boris, he's so witty". When he said to Vaz "You are trying to make me look like a F*****g fool", a bubble was burst. Good old Boris isn't quite as cerebral or witty as we thought. Of course Vaz was trying to make him look like a fool, he's an opponent. It's Boris's job not to fall into the trap. He failed. He just looked Naive and out of his depth.

I'm not shocked or surprised by his swearing but I am at his general inability to cope with a few opposing politicians being a bit beastly. Bozza, if you want to get on in the job, you need a much thicker skin.

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