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THE APPOINTMENT OF Boris Johnson, the leading Brexit campaigner and former mayor of London, as the UK’s new foreign secretary, made headlines around the world last night.
German presenters could barely contain their mirth as they announced the news, apparently…
Laura Schneider / TwitterGerman TV news presenters can't help laughing as they announce #BorisJohnson as Britain's new Foreign Minister.
— Laura Moore (@alauraschneider) July 13, 2016
The former prime minister of Sweden said he hoped the appointment was a joke…
Carl Bildt / TwitterI wish it was a joke, but I fear it isn't. Exit upon exit. pic.twitter.com/8qmlSkQNRj
— Carl Bildt (@carlbildt) July 13, 2016
And even Cher chipped in, with her reaction…
Cher / TwitterThink He’s
— Cher (@cher) July 13, 2016
F-ing Idiot who lied to British ppl
& Didnt have the⚽️🏉🎱2 LEAD
THEM ONCE “LEAVE”VOTE WON‼️..anymore questions😂
To describe the ex-mayor as gaffe-prone would be something of an understatement – so the reaction to his appointment as the UK’s top diplomat certainly comes as no surprise.
Johnson has been insulting people, and apologising for those same insults, for years.
In no particular order, here is a list of world figures, countries, cities and random citizens of the world Boris has had a pop at in the last few decades…
Johnson took a pop at the US president during the Brexit campaign, after Obama voiced his opposition to the pro-Leave movement.
Writing for the Sun, the Tory recounted a story of a bust of Churchill being removed from the White House after the Obamas moved in.
According to Johnson:
No one was sure whether the President had himself been involved in the decision. Some said it was a snub to Britain. Some said it was a symbol of the part-Kenyan President’s ancestral dislike of the British Empire – of which Churchill had been such a fervent defender.
Always an equal-opportunities offender, Johnson took aim at the presumptive Republican nominee after the businessman implied that parts of London were no-go areas.
Said Boris:
The only reason I wouldn’t visit some parts of New York is the real risk of meeting Donald Trump.
Johnson was forced to apologise for referring to black people as “piccaninnies” during the campaign for the London mayoralty in 2008.
In a column published six years previously in the Telegraph, he had mocked Tony Blair’s globetrotting:
What a relief it must be for Blair to get out of England. It is said that the Queen has come to love the Commonwealth, partly because it supplies her with regular cheering crowds of flag-waving piccaninnies.
The piece also mentioned “watermelon smiles”.
Johnson said he was ”sad” that people had been offended but insisted the words had been taken out of context.
Johnson wrote in 2005 that the importance of the world’s most populous nation was being overplayed.
“We do not need to teach babies Mandarin,” he maintained.
Compared with the old British Empire, and the new American imperium, Chinese cultural influence is virtually nil, and unlikely to increase.
The President of Turkey
Johnson won £1,000 from the Spectator earlier this year when the magazine ran a contest for offensive poems about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
A former editor of the Spectator, Johnson composed the limerick in response to Erdogan’s decision to take legal action over a German comedian’s poem about him.
Here it is:
There was a young fellow from Ankara
Who was a terrific wankerer
Till he sowed his wild oats
With the help of a goat
But he didn’t even stop to thankera.
Back in 2004, the Tory MP was sent to Liverpool by his party leader to apologise in person for a magazine article that criticised the city’s reaction to the death of Ken Bigley, who was abducted and killed in Iraq.
Johnson wrote in an editorial in The Spectator that the city was wallowing in “disproportionate” grief following his death. Liverpudlians, he added, “wallow” in their “victim status”.
Michael Howard, the then-Conservative boss, sent him north to say sorry, noting that the article was “nonsense from beginning to end”.
Johnson was forced to apologise again in 2006, after linking Papua New Guinea to “cannibalism and chief-killing” in his newspaper column.
“I meant no insult to the people of Papua New Guinea who I’m sure lead lives of blameless bourgeois domesticity in common with the rest of us,” Johnson said later, after the country’s High Commissioner in London complained.
He said he was happy to “add Papua New Guinea to my global itinerary of apology”.
He called them “great supine protoplasmic invertebrate jellies”. Which is pretty creative, in fairness.
Not so much an insult, more of a full-on attack…
Johnson knocked the Japanese boy to the ground during a rugby match while on an official visit to the country – taking the 10-year-old out with a harsh tackle as he raced down the pitch with the ball.
It wasn’t even a real rugby match, it should be pointed out – it was a press event where participants pretended to play for the cameras.
The then-mayor of London later apologised, and gave the child a rugby ball.
Oh, and before we go… He also once temporarily crippled a German footballer by headbutting him in the groin during a charity soccer match.
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Imagine the craic himself and Prince Philip could have on foreign junkets … Twice the insults !!
I think he’s a laugh. Mad as a brush and doesn’t give a f***, and so what.
At least the ballocks has a sense of humour.
I do not think Boris did some of the things the Duke as done even from the 70s?????
Boris compared Hillary Clinton to a ‘sadistic nurse in a mental hospital’! I’m suprised the article left that one out. Although he’s an idiot, he can be very witty!
Gonna have some laughs with Boris, not a million miles from Borat.
He’s a laugh a minute. His Limerick about Erdogan was positively brilliant.
German TV presenters, a former Swedish prime minister and Cher. FFS!
Btw, he better not say anything about Erdogan when in Germany. Mama Merkel will have him prosecuted.
FFS = ?
Funnily enough when I heard the news yesterday, my first thought was what does Cher think?
Ah he will give us great entertainment all the same.
Fred, you probably need some in Blueball…
Ger. You probably need your meds. Losing the plot all together. BLUEBALL is that what you little friends call you.
Away with you. Back into your box now.
Oddball
Brian. He is right weirdo. Something not right about him. He has mad fascination with blueball. Why I have no idea. He seems to think that’s where I am from. It’s not but if that’s what he thinks , he should look for a refund because he got the wrong information. On the bright side, he will never find me since , his location meter is way off.
Considering I use this Twitter account just for commenting on the journal. Thank God , with people like ger lurking around. I do wonder what’s his fascination with blueball is?….
He is related to King George III as was Cameron…
Funny how George III had blue urine and his distant relations are Tories, a divine sense of humour?
Littleone, I’d still watch my back with that fruitcake SJW, bit of the sniff of Dahmer off of him.
Too many face palm moments, but on the plus side its like Joey Tribbiani moved into a new apartment on Downing Street
Germans laughing? I don’t believe it
Do you know many Germans or have you formed that view from a life of watching British television?
He’s being sarcastic, Luke. Relax and enjoy the show.
This will be entertaining.
In a Prince Andrew Meets Mr.Bean sort of way.
True – it’s a fine line between Boris and Phil the Greek when it comes to insulting ‘foreigners’ alright…
There’s nothing wrong with most of these, bar the one about picanannies
The rugby tackle on a 10 year old kidis fine by you? Wow
He tried to dummy the kid but then got a speed-wobble and crashed into him. Pure comedy.
The future looks bright.
Well, he is right about Obama, Trump and Clinton
Boris will have to behave himself under Theresa’s watch.
The reality is, is that he’ll be fine. How many times have governments and politicians slated each other but once they are in power, their all best buddies. I think he’ll actually do a fairly good job.
The media give out about Boris – but say less about the Queens husband. Biased?
That is still hush hush from the 70s…
Every Irish news outlet and tonnes of people on these very comment sections absolutely lost their frigging minds when Prince Philip made the comment about the harp player in Trinity not sounding “like the locals”.
Don’t think it left the papers for a week.
The funnier part I’d watching all the people in here going on about how funny Boris is. Bet they were the same people complaining about Phil’s comment at the time.
It’s only comedy gold and freedom of speech when someone’s making fun of people who aren’t Irish apparently.
The last time I was in London, crossing Shaftsbury Avenue, I nearly got knocked down by a cyclist, a bloke with blonde hair in a suit – Boris Bloody Johnson …
He’s an absolute shitestain but like Trump he will say his piece and you know where you stand with him. The ones who are truely disgusting are the ones who pretend not to have these thoughts and constantly lie through their teeth to conceal them.
Isn’t Boris really American? Makes you wonder how he can be a minister?
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/02/boris-Johnson-renounces-us-citizenship-tax-bill-mayor-london/385554/
Why, so was Dev!?
And ROG.
The IRS was after Boris there for a bit?
The gaffes are rehearsed, the zip wire stunt getting stuck was intentional to boost his global image, he is ruthlessly ambitious, focused and can be pro-europe in his views historically. He wants to be PM end of story. Even the hair is tossed around to cultivate the clown image but don’t be fooled his policy is what the audience wants at any specific time and of course himself.
Boris will give a new word to the world of diplomacy. I suggest DIPLUNACY.
That ten year old kicked his ass and denied him a try.
Was he acting Benny Hill in that photo, I don’t think he was?
What lie was Cher on about?
The way in which Nigel & Boris sold the No vote to the British public pulling figures out of their arse
Do you think the British public would vote the way Farage or Boris tell them to, give them a little credit, the Remain side lied a lot as well and that might have caused the Brexit vote with personal experience like austerity and the bedroom tax?
Anyone who thinks Boris is an idiot… you’re back there in the comments somewhere… is most definitely one !
It’s one thing to put your hand out to be slapped, but..
…And?? I don’t agree with everything he has said but I agree with most things. His kerbed cycle lanes in London are a bane to many but might actually save lives in future…who will know?? I like a politician who speaks his mind and rarely retracts. Maybe he is populist, but he pays the full UK tax on his earnings, no dodgy offshore shite. He will be kept well away from Brexit negotiations and serve as an international trade bridge-builder, tackling little Japanese rugby kids and hanging from zip wires all around the world for endless hours… Good Man Boris !
Good hand dealt by a maestro he will dig his own grave, Guarantee between Boris Johnston and David Davidson the EU will not entertain their request I will put money on this one UK will have another vote, PM thinking is you started it you can finish it.
Lets be honest some of them deserved it
He’s as thick as the brick he’s holding!
Ah, Gerry, have you ever stopped to think about some facts? He was twice elected as Mayor of London…a city with some 8.5million people; greater than the population of the whole of Ireland, and many times the status. Whilst Mayor he did a good job and made a multitude of high-level international contacts. He is an elected MP and now in the Foreign Office. All the marks of a complete no-hoper, according to you and some others. He is a very sharp cookie and plays the fool card to great effect. Underestimate him at your peril, he doesn’t care.
So, Gerry, don’t be shy…tell us what positions of national, and international, importance you have achieved, or been elected to.
Might not like him but thick , hope you don’t mean unintelligent ! Now here’s a scenario well worth keeping an eye on !
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