- Thu Jul 14, 2022 2:51 pm
#29773
From Private Eye (15 July)
HACKWATCH – Whodunnit?
· It was the Remainers’ fault
“Boris will never be forgotten or forgiven his single biggest achievement – honouring the verdict of 17.4million British people and getting Brexit done. It was the beginning of a potentially glorious era and the source of the relentless Remoaner anger which was to finally bring him down.” –Trevor Kavanagh, Sun
· It was the Brexiters’ fault
“The reason the rightwing Brexiters were now going for Johnson was that they felt their objective had been secured. When Keir Starmer shocked former Remainers, and now Rejoiners, like your correspondent, by ruling out any intention of joining the European Union and even the single market, then for Conservative Brexiters Johnson had served his purpose and could go. The problem was that, for them, Johnson was not purposeful enough.” –William Keegan, Observer
· It was Dominic Cumming’s fault
“The former aide and ally, after being forced out of Number 10 in November 2020 masterminded a calculated, incremental coup against the Prime Minister he had once served as senior adviser. I hate to give such a malign character as Cummings any credit, but I suspect that he may ultimately be responsible for having sealed Boris’ demise.” – Stephen Robinson, Daily Mail
· It was Tony Blair’s fault
“Boris will be hearing the jeering howls of the disgracefully disloyal Rejoiners. The people – led as ever by Blair and Co – who have schemed ceaselessly since June 2016 to reverse Brexit and dive back gratefully into the learned helplessness, the velvet-lined shackles of powerless association with the fast collapsing EU.” – Gwythian Prins, Daily Express
· It was Alistair Campbell’s fault
“The people, by the way, who are egging us on to divide and turn on one another are people like Alistair Campbell, and wherever he is you want to be on the opposite side of the argument.” – Nadhim Zahawi, speaking on Sky News
· It was the BBC’s fault
“Watching any news channel yesterday – BBC, ITV or Sky – you could not miss the presenters’ glee or the parade of triumphant Remainer guests they have had on speed-dial since 2016 … We fully expect the BBC – now openly campaigning for a Labour government – to talk up any Tory Remainer for PM and venomously denounce all Brexiteers. It comes so naturally now we doubt they even grasp what impartiality is, let alone that their charter demands it.” – Editorial, Sun
· It was Twitter’s fault
“How appalling that a PM with a mandate from 14 million voters can be cancelled by Twitter and Britain’s Brexit loathing elite.” _ Mick Hume, Daily Mail
· It was the fault of all the above
“Boris was brought down by a devil’s bargain between the Remainstream broadcast media; the pro-Brussels blob; embittered rivals and has-beens passed over for promotion; ambitious and duplicitous alleged colleagues; and Lilliputian nobodies on the backbenches. Gulliver has fallen.” – Richard Littlejohn, Daily Mail
· It was the elite’s fault
“The Westminster witch hunt by unelected dark forces crippled the man who has never lost an election … I might be mocked by lefties for backing Boris into his final days, but I think it’s a disgrace the elite were allowed to win. Mark my words, this is a dark day for democracy in Britain.” – Dan Wooton, MailOnline
· It was everyone’s fault except the Conservative party’s
“This unholy alliance of Leftist loudmouths, hand-wringing liberals and embittered Remainers, cheered on by the BBC, Sky and ITN, which have abandoned all pretence of impartiality. And their pathological anti-Boris mania has been amplified by like-minded newspapers and the deranged keyboard warriors on social media.” - Editorial, Daily Mail
· It was Rishi Sunak’s fault
“Just how long HAS Rishi been plotting to take No 10? Ex-Chancellor registered his leadership website domain name in December – four days after Boris Johnson’s wine and cheese Partygate photo was published … A very polished campaign launch – the professional nature of which raised questions over the length of time Mr Sunak has been preparing a leadership bid – came less than three days after he quit as Chancellor in a dramatic move that precipitated Mr Johnson’s downfall as PM.” – News story, MailOnline
· It was his ex-mistresses’ fault
“While the political class conducts airy debates on why Boris Johnson’s government collapsed so ingloriously this week, I have a simpler explanation. It was the women who finished him off. No, not Liz Truss, Penny Mordaunt, Suella Braverman or the other ambitious Cabinet she-wolves who wanted him gone so they could lead the pack. I mean Boris’ lovers. The PM’s rackety private life has left a long list of jilted women – from Petronella Wyatt to Marina Wheeler, Helen MacIntyre, Anna Fazackerley and Jennifer Acuri … if you can lie to your wife about the lipstick on your collar, you can lie to a country about a party you attended or whether or not you knew about the claims of groping levelled against a minor government gigure.” – Amanda Platell, Daily Mail
· It’s not my fault
“It was always going to happen but now that it has, there’s a part of me that feels dirty because I was in on ‘the kill’. We all watched it happening in slow motion – waiting for the Big Beast to fall. Some are even salivating over it, enjoying the spectacle. Well, not me. I’m devastated by it. It feels like the country has been plunged into some sad but terrifying vortex which will soon be spinning out of control …” – Carole Malone, Daily Express
· And it certainly wasn’t the fault of Boris Johnson
“He stood down with his dignity and reputation intact.” – Editorial, Daily Mad (“Mail”, surely? Ed.)
40.6 %
8.5 %
30.2 %
12.3 %
