In Defence of Boris Johnson: Blond Ambition: Channel 4's Attempted Character Assassination

Channel 4 brand

An aside before I begin. Today the BBC (remember its somewhat patronising mission statement: 'To enrich people's lives with programmes and services that inform, educate and entertain', rather than to misinform, mislead, disseminate propaganda) has accompanied a news story about sexual harassment at the Presidents Club Dinner with video of Boris Johnson as if he were attending said dinner and involved in the allegations. He wasn't. He merely allowed them to auction off a lunch with him to generate funds for Great Ormond St Hospital. It really is as Judy Sheindlin (Judge Judy to most of us) is wont to say: 'No good deed goes unpunished.'

Programme blurb: Channel 4 charts Boris Johnson's first 14 months as Foreign Secretary. Our unlikely chief diplomat has shared his grand vision for Brexit, but can he ever achieve his dream of becoming Prime Minister?
 

This programme purports to be a documentary but is really simply an unfunny hatchet job on Boris Johnson.

I should have guessed what it would be like from the fact that its title focused on Boris’s appearance (so what if he’s blond?) and implied that he has a desire for power for himself, regardless of party politics. It also aligns him with Madonna, whose 1990 tour had the same name, so suggesting he’s more of an entertainer than a bonafide politician. Of course I can't deny it’s also a catchy, clever title.

Seriously this programme was so blatantly biased that I assumed it was on the very much pro-Remain, unremittingly anti-Brexit BBC, on which they continually talk about the Foreign Secretary's 'gaffes' (their favourite word around Boris, even if he solved world poverty, it'd still be a gaffe to the BBC) even though that's just their opinion. The BBC always sticks to the same left-leaning agenda. See my Brexit blog. Well done, Channel 4, for sinking to that level. I write that in the certainty that it will be taken as a compliment.

Boris Johnson and Theresa May

Everything is presented in such a way that Boris Johnson cannot win. If he backs the government, he’s not sticking by his principles, if he doesn’t, he’s undermining Theresa May. If he tries to do a bit of both, to be loyal and be honest, he’s dismissed as inconsistent. But some of us applaud his refusal to toe the party line when he feels strongly about something.

The image Channel 4 chose to accompany the programme

Boris’s appearance is usually accompanied by silly, fairground-style music to imply that he’s some kind of clown who can't be taken seriously. It is also suggested that his being well known will be a detriment to his political career. It’s not as if he’s appeared on Celebrity Big Brother. He’s known for his political nous and straight talking, things most people would appreciate in any politician.

The Channel 4 interviewer seems determined to provoke everyone else into having a dig at Boris and is disappointed when Andrew Neil responds with this: I don't think you can fault the man for doing the right thing.

C4: That makes it sound like he could be leader still (to Jacob Rees-Mogg who evidently believes Boris has done nothing to disqualify himself from the role).

Channel 4 describes the situation thus: Once again the PM can't control him.

The book he didn't promote in Serbia

They even go so far as to claim that he used his visit to Serbia to promote his own book although anyone watching can see that a member of the public brought him a copy of his book to sign. He can hardly be responsible for that and he can't really refuse to sign it. How ungracious would that seem? It’s not as if he sat down at a table with tons of copies and a pen though this is how C4 characterises it. In fact, you can tell he’s embarrassed enough to make a joke about it.

C4: He was wading in on the Syria question.

‘Wading in’ is loaded against Boris, as if he were at fault for having strong feelings and daring to express them, as if he shouldn’t get involved, for daring to do his job.

C4: Could he resist playing the joker?

Time and again C4 acts like being quick-witted disqualifies him from a job for which you would think it would be a prerequisite. He’s not allowed to have a sense of humour, something else that you’d imagine would be a boon to any negotiator or diplomat.

C4: Less of a chance to play at politics.

This vocabulary is chosen to belittle him. He’s not 'playing at' politics. He’s a politician.

C4: A chance to prove he’s not just a joker.

Again that’s merely C4’s entirely unobjective opinion.

'Intransigent' EU still holding us to ransom

They criticise him for panning Donald Trump, while doing the same themselves. What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. In fact, they treat Trump in much the same way as they do Boris, showing gold busts of him dropping off a conveyor belt. This is done in an effort to connect the two. Boris has opinions and he shares them, perhaps occasionally unwisely but I would rather put my faith in someone who takes a stance than someone who doesn’t. If anybody else had done this, C4 would be applauding them. He says what he thinks, is not spun till his position is not robust enough to survive a strong breeze.

C4: No 10, clearly exasperated.

Again, according to C4.

Another politician, can't remember who, sees Boris as: A mix of altruism and egotism.

Like the politician, I see nothing wrong with that.

Rudyard Kipling

The documentary makers continually attempt to ambush him. He’s not allowed to recite Rudyard Kipling because C4, BBC et al. believe we have to apologise for the Empire for the rest of our lives even if no one alive today had anything to do with it. But are we asking for reparation from the Romans or the Vikings? What's really being attacked here is Boris's erudition because the media has a patronising attitude to the general public (particularly prevalent at the BBC, our so-called public service broadcaster) who they're sure will not understand the reference. And there may be a little truth in that. A phrase like 'Gadarene rush' might easily be lost on some people but to me this is more evidence of the fact that Boris is not willing to promote an image that's not real. He isn't striving to be an Everyman; he doesn't purport to be 'a man of the people'. He's not going to pretend not to know something he does. He doesn't condescend to people like David Cameron or Jeremy Corbyn do. I would rather endorse someone who is well read and erudite than someone who isn’t.

C4: Scolded, wooed and mocked, again and again breaching the line.

They don’t know that any of this has happened and come across as bad losers, disgruntled that Boris finally refused to have anything to do with them, no doubt because of their wilful misrepresentation of certain situations, eg the book-signing incident.

C4: The most centralised and controlling no. 10 anyone could remember.

They seem to believe that this is a good thing. Why? And that Boris is some sort of mischievous schoolboy, always up before the headmistress. This notion does not reflect well on either Theresa May or Boris Johnson. And why wouldn't you respect someone who refused to be controlled?

If he keeps out of the way, in order not to steal the limelight, they attack him for that, with: Boris, chairing his own version of Bake Off. If he were in the throng, they would say he was trying to compete with the Prime Minister. He really can't win.

Jeremy Corbyn at Glastonbury

C4: There were several articles mocking Boris Johnson as a joke.

According to Channel 4. Have they read the Evening Standard’s satirical report on Jeremy Corbyn at Glastonbury? I love the description of Corbyn looking like a pensioner who'd lost his coach party.

The programme closes with a sequence showing Boris good-naturedly participating in a tug of war and ends, predictably for Channel 4, with Boris falling over.

C4 is asking us to believe that you can't be taken seriously if you

look rumpled

have a sense of humour

are able to quote literature

occasionally reference something the media consider is not widely known

have a wide vocabulary

ride a bike

have blond hair.

They’ve refused to understand what Boris is about,

I hope that the viewers are able to distinguish the dishonest, subjective agenda that the programme makers are trying to push. It really is the exact opposite of impartial reporting, with every opportunity taken to subvert Boris Johnson’s mission and motivation. It’s a failed assassination attempt on his character.