Al Capone was deemed "public enemy number 1". He had a long list of crimes that he could have been prosecuted for. In the end though he was jailed on 5 counts of tax evasion.
I am not suggesting that Boris Johnson is anywhere near being a criminal in the sense that Capone was but he does have a history of breaking rules which don't suit him. He also has a reputation for being colourful with the truth, for indulging in vanity projects, being cavalier with public money and showing favouritism to those that support him.
His answer to the current round of allegations against him is that the public don't care about these irrelevant matters, what concerns them is that Britain is doing well in the battle against Covid.
He may be right and his personal ratings and those of the party did seem to agree with him. However, things are changing. Element of the press and public, who have largely supported him, are finding it difficult to ignore the evidence against him.
The Electoral Commission has now announced that they will be look into whether any transactions related to the work on Johnson's flat, above 11 Downing Street, were properly reported. Like tax evasion did for Capone, Wallpapergate could prove the undoing for Johnson.
It isn't the first time Johnson has been warned for failing to make declarations of interest.
In 2019, Boris Johnson breached House of Commons rules by failing to declare a financial interest in a property within the required time limit. He failed to register his 20 per cent share of the Somerset property within the 28-day timetable of acquiring it.
It followed Mr Johnson’s previous apology to the committee just four months before after breaching rules on declared earnings for his book royalties.
To Johnson these issues are a "pyramid of piffle" but to voters they could point to someone they should no longer put their trust in. Perhaps more important, politicians in his party must be weighing up whether it is safe for them to continue to show support for a PM who may lead to their undoing.
1 comment:
Media-driven piffle, mostly from blatantly left-leaning sources. As the results in England at least reveal, it is Boris who has most public (& my) support. He’s the best PM we’ve had since Thatcher (who was the best since Churchill). Unfortunately I have to live partly under the yoke of the SNP/Sturgeon cabal and her band of thugs. Glad I could be of help ����.
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