{"id":5528,"date":"2019-07-18T12:53:27","date_gmt":"2019-07-18T12:53:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chief-exec.com\/?p=5528"},"modified":"2020-10-27T08:52:53","modified_gmt":"2020-10-27T08:52:53","slug":"boris-johnsons-deceit-maketh-the-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chief-exec.com\/?p=5528","title":{"rendered":"Boris Johnson\u2019s deceit maketh the man"},"content":{"rendered":"

Very soon the UK could have the least trustworthy prime minister for generations. Murray Ritchie<\/em>\u00a0 poses the question: how did it come to this?<\/span><\/h4>\n

If \u2013 or when \u2013 Boris Johnson becomes UK prime minister he might look back on his years spent in Brussels shamelessly misrepresenting the work of the European Union. Given his awkward relationship with truth and facts he will probably feel no prick of conscience.<\/p>\n

Few people have made such a notable contribution to the phenomenon of Euromythology \u2013 those lies and exaggerations peddled over the years about the alleged malevolence of the EU.<\/p>\n

To people like Boris Johnson the European Union is little more than a gang of elitist, bossy, \u201cunelected\u201d Eurocrats (to Eurosceptic eyes they are always \u201cunelected\u201d even when, like MEPs and ministers from member states, they plainly are elected).<\/p>\n

Euromyths must have greatly assisted the cause of Brexit. In his time as the Daily Telegraph\u2019s<\/em> Brussels correspondent, Johnson rejoiced in his reputation as the Euromyth spreader in chief.<\/p>\n

His readers and editors lapped it all up because Johnson was always entertaining, a sometimes-brilliant writer and humourist, and utterly without the slightest twinge of embarrassment when he parted company with truth and accuracy.<\/p>\n

His colleagues \u2013 of which I was one \u2013 in the Brussels press corps suffered because of Johnson\u2019s artifice. My then editor called one morning angrily complaining that I had missed a great story about the European Commission\u2019s plan to build a grandiose one-kilometre high headquarters.<\/p>\n

It was a sensational story involving what would be the most remarkable building on earth and the tallest in the world, Johnson reported. To authenticate this load of nonsense he even offered an artist\u2019s impression of the said pile.<\/p>\n

His tale had one basic flaw: it was complete invention. \u00a0Not a word was true.<\/p>\n

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There were so many such Euromyths around at the time that the UK Foreign Office felt moved to produce a booklet listing them in order to demolish them.<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Today\u2019s refurbished Berlaymont HQ of the Commission in Brussels stands testimony to this Johnsonian flight of imagination. But the reaction of the Telegraph\u2019s Europhobic readers was predictable: blind fury.<\/p>\n

Johnson\u2019s willingness to stoke the fires of Euroscepticism was becoming legendary.<\/p>\n

There were so many such Euromyths around at the time that the UK Foreign Office felt moved to produce a booklet listing them in order to demolish them.<\/p>\n

It was a long list, and almost completely ignored by the overwhelmingly Eurosceptic UK press. One cracker was that Italians should be able to buy condoms that were larger than those to be made available elsewhere in the EU.<\/p>\n

Another was that British fishermen must wear hairnets at sea. Readers of Britain\u2019s right-wing newspapers were informed that UK motorists would soon be compelled to drive on the right. Bananas had to be straight (or bent at a certain angle, the story changed from time to time).<\/p>\n

Of course, not all of these \u201cnews\u201d items were the work of Boris Johnson. The Sun<\/em> was also particularly active on the Euromyth trail and the Daily Express<\/em> and Daily Mail<\/em> tried tirelessly to keep up.<\/p>\n

In some rare cases there might even have been a scintilla of evidence to support this type of coverage.<\/p>\n

In the EU institutions there was a practice known as comitology. This involved the EU inviting opinions from those who might have a legitimate interest in some aspect of policy planning.<\/p>\n

The danger with this well-intentioned process was that it sometimes led to an eager PR consultant or lobbyist offering a crackpot idea on behalf of a client.<\/p>\n

The idea would not survive its first airing, of course, but it might be minuted before being binned at the first opportunity. Too late, it was suddenly another EU conspiracy in the eyes of the UK\u2019s Eurosceptic press.<\/p>\n

British tabloids and the Telegraph<\/em> found comitology a happy hunting ground for mischief, confident in the knowledge that nothing would come of any of it. But over time it helped spread what Tony Blair called the \u201cEurosceptic virus\u201d which now appears beyond control.<\/p>\n

In those days Boris Johnson paraded himself as a personable eccentric. He wore designer scruff for a jacket with holes in the elbows and his hair was carefully kept unkempt.<\/p>\n

One of his routines was to take the mickey out of EU commissioners put up to answer questions from the media at the daily briefing. The commission had a silly rule that only French could be spoken in those days \u2013 an invitation to Johnson to perform in absurdly posh Franglais to the delight particularly of the French press corps.<\/p>\n

Jacques Delors hated it when Johnson put on one of his shows, which is why Johnson loved doing it. And he could be undeniably hilarious.<\/p>\n

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In those days Boris Johnson paraded himself as a personable eccentric. He wore designer scruff for a jacket with holes in the elbows and his hair was carefully kept unkempt.<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/blockquote>\n

His colleagues in the British press corps poked fun at his famous determination \u2013 which was deadly serious – to be prime minister one day. Whenever the prime minister \u2013 John Major in those days \u2013 came to Brussels the UK representation in the EU was placed on full alert for Johnson\u2019s trouble making.<\/p>\n

It was standard practice for Major and senior ministers to answer questions from all journalists and then steer Johnson away for a personal briefing afterwards in the faint hope that his wilder writings could be contained.<\/p>\n

It seldom worked. What was truly astonishing was how Johnson \u2013 still a youngster learning his trade as a journalist \u2013 could instill real fear in powerful politicians and civil servants.<\/p>\n

Even more surprising was the clear cowardice of senior Conservative ministers in facing down their own party\u2019s Eurosceptic critics.\u00a0 They have long since paid a fearful price.<\/p>\n

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Brandishing a kipper Johnson slammed the rules as \u201cpointless, expensive, environmentally damaging\u201d and derived from a petty-minded \u201chealth and safety\u201d culture. The EU has clarified that the requirements did not in any way derive from European law. https:\/\/t.co\/8ubmIUjnYw<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Chief-Exec.com (@Chief_Exec_com) July 19, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n