I have a real soft spot for Boris Johnson, the accident prone member for Henley on Thames. Of course, it has a lot to do with his looks and his similarity to my Old English Sheepdog, but I also think he is a much misunderstood man. He’s in trouble once again this week for these comments: ‘“For 10 years we in the Tory Party have become used to Papua New Guinea-style orgies of cannibalism and chief-killing, and so it is with a happy amazement that we watch as the madness engulfs the Labour Party.”
The High Commissioner of Papua New Guinea was ‘outraged’ by the comments, and feels he ought to visit the country to fully appreciate who they are and how far on from canibalism they have moved. Boris thought that was a good idea, and promised to add Papua New Guinea to his ‘Global Tour of Apology.’ A wry refrenece to his trip to Liverpool after accusing the people of ‘wallowing in grief’ following the death of Ken Bigley.
Mind you , there’s always a danger of throwing the baby out with the bath water in situations like this, and the nugget of truth or good sense in anything Johnson says is clouded by the extraneous coverage of the faux pas. His blog is worth looking at, as he is man who doesnt pull punches, and tells it like he sees it. I tend to agree that the Prime Minister’s slow and agonising farewell tour smacks of an ego inflated to the point of madness, and agree with much of this:
Here we are, with British soldiers being killed almost daily in Iraq and Afghanistan on missions that are growing in scale and horror. We have rises in gun crime, rises in unemployment, rises in interest rates — and these flaming lunatics in Downing Street seriously expect the nation to line the streets with bunting and shower Tony with confetti as he goes on a six-month lap of honour, a “farewell tour” in which he accepts the praises of a smiling people