Boris Johnson under fire over row with partner as top Tories raise fears

[brooklynite]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by Yonnie3 (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: The Guardian

Boris Johnson was struggling to keep his campaign to become prime minister on course last night as he repeatedly refused to explain why police had been called to his home after a loud, late-night altercation with his partner.

Senior Tories were quick to raise fresh concerns over the former foreign secretary’s suitablity for No?10 as the favourite to succeed Theresa May stonewalled question after question about the incident at the first hustings of the leadership contest in front of party members.

Asked about the story, revealed on Friday evening by the Guardian, Johnson told the Birmingham audience that people did not “want to hear about that kind of thing”. When pressed on whether understanding his character was important in the battle to replace Theresa May, Johnson insisted he would only talk about his plans “for the country and our party”.

Radio presenter Iain Dale, a former Tory candidate who hosted the hustings, accused Johnson of “completely avoiding” questions about the argument with Carrie Symonds, a former Conservative party head of press, at their home in the early hours of Friday morning. “People are entitled to ask about me and my determination, my character and what I want to do for the country,” Johnson said. “Let me just tell you that when I make a promise in politics, about what I’m going to do, I keep that promise and I deliver.”

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jun/22/boris-johnson-under-fire-questions-hustings-late-night-argument

[DFW]

1. Oh, people did not "want to hear about that kind of thing".

The kind of thing I don't want to hear about is the thought of Boris Johnson becoming Prime Minister.

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. Video reveals Steve Bannon links to Boris Johnson

Reports of Johnson and Bannon’s relationship were first published last summer. When asked about it at the time, Johnson said: “As for the so-called association with Steve Bannon, I’m afraid this is a lefty delusion whose spores continue to breed in the Twittersphere.”
...
The unpublished footage was shot in July last year by Alison Klayman, an American film-maker who followed Bannon over many months for a new documentary called The Brink. It sets out Bannon’s account of how the two had been in close contact particularly around the time of Johnson’s resignation from the May government.
...
Klayman asks him if they’ve been speaking on the phone and he says: “Talked to him initially over the phone then it’s just easier to go back and forth on text. It’s just easier. I’ve been telling him one of my recommendations is that he gave one of the most important political speeches of 2016. Was his closing speech, a three-to-five-minute speech in June 2016, his closing argument on national TV for the Leave campaign ... And it was magnificent.

“And all I was telling him all weekend was just to incorporate those themes. Those same themes. Basically, he was saying that June 23 was independence day for Great Britain. Their independence day being like our July 4.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/22/video-reveals-steve-bannon-links-to-boris-johnson

Great - the favourite to become PM is in cahoots with the loathsome Bannon. Who also supports the far-right thug convicted of violence and fraud "Tommy Robinson", as the Guardian points out. And was VP of Cambridge Analytica. The British government is on the brink of falling into Putin's orbit.

[LiberalFighter]

3. How he behaves in personal relationships is not any concern for the British? Hah!

[Yonnie3]

4. Locking after a review by hosts

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