Boris Johnson’s divisive parliamentary language reached a new low – 11 outraged reactions
On his first day back in parliament after the Supreme Court judgement that rendered its prorogation void, it would have been reasonable to expect Boris Johnson to acknowledge his error, make an apology, and try to move forward. Lol, just kidding. Nobody expected him to do that, and they were right not to, because he doubled down on his dogmatic position, refused to apologise, said the Supreme Court justices were wrong, and used inflammatory language, like “betrayal”, “sabotage” and “surrender”.
When asked to tone down his language, this was his shocking response.
Here's the moment Boris Johnson responded to MP Paul Sheriff's emotional plea to soften his language, citing the death of her friend Jo Cox, with "humbug". pic.twitter.com/q5qPymwUsp
— BuzzFeed UK Politics (@BuzzFeedUKPol) September 25, 2019
The close friend and successor of murdered MP Jo Cox, Tracy Brabin, also put the case for him to moderate his rhetoric, causing him to invoke Jo Cox’s name in a way a lot of people found offensive.
Tracey Brabin, who succeeded murdered Jo Cox as MP for Batley and Spen, calls on the PM to "moderate his language so that we will all feel secure when we're going about our jobs".
Boris Johnson replies: "The best way to honour the memory of Jo Cox…would be to get Brexit done". pic.twitter.com/JhdXOuLGzH
— Sky News (@SkyNews) September 25, 2019
His attitude caused widespread and understandable outrage, with these reactions being typical of a much larger response.
1.
Woman after woman after woman after woman has had to stand up tonight and plead with Boris Johnson to moderate his language for their own safety, and he just doubles down every time. What an absolutely hollowed-our human. Narcissism has taken it all.
— Marina Hyde (@MarinaHyde) September 25, 2019
2.
A malignant, unapologetic narcissist, humbug with every exhalation, dismissing appeals to moderation over a dead mother's body. The clown act now dispensed with. Boorish pomposity now fully out of hiding. A man who'd send a country to war with itself, just for his own way.
— Stephen McGann (@StephenMcGann) September 25, 2019
3.
What kind of Dickensian fucking psychopath listens to this emotional speech (referencing her murdered friend) and has the instinctive reaction to dismiss it as “humbug” pic.twitter.com/7XJpzFFLjm
— James Felton (@JimMFelton) September 25, 2019
4.
In the House of Commons, @BorisJohnson has just said the words: "The best way to honour Jo Cox's memory is to get Brexit done."
Good grief. Just resign.
— Tom Peck (@tompeck) September 25, 2019
5.
What a fucking disgrace Boris Johnson is. In response to a tearful Paula Sheriff speaking about her murdered friend, the prime minister replies that he has never heard ''such humbug'' in all his life. Shameful behaviour.
— Kirsty Strickland (@KirstyStricklan) September 25, 2019
6.
Today Boris Johnson:
-refused to apologise for unlawfully proroguing Parliament and embarrassing the Queen.
-created furore around the memory of Jo Cox.
-told MPs the increase in threats of violence against them was “humbug”
-told us he will not comply with the law.Astounding.
— Lewis Goodall (@lewis_goodall) September 25, 2019
7.
Can we please not qualify or try to ascribe reason to a man treating so carelessly the murder of a woman? Prime minister or not – Boris Johnson is a misogynist and utterly unfit to hold high office.
— Kirsty Strickland (@KirstyStricklan) September 25, 2019
8.
"The best way to honour Jo Cox's memory is to get Brexit done." – utterly shameful from @BorisJohnson when the MP was murdered by a Far Right terrorist shouting "Britain first".
Do the decent thing and resign.
— Kevin Maguire (@Kevin_Maguire) September 25, 2019
9.
It feels unsafe having this man as Prime Minister.
— Caitlin Moran (@caitlinmoran) September 25, 2019
10.
Not sure what's more frightening. How Boris Johnson is behaving – or the fact that politicians, journalists and ordinary people are willing to defend it and nornalise it. I always wondered how Germany, and advanced democracy, went mad in the 1930s – and now unfortunately I know.
— Otto English (@Otto_English) September 26, 2019
11.
I genuinely think now he's playing to the gallery; the very worst, offensive version of himself he can be to appeal to the ukips and the brexits. He wants to offend, he wants people to start repeating these lines https://t.co/ctNUWUT5IC
— SheRa Marley-Threepwood (@SheRa_Marley) September 25, 2019
This summary from The Secret Barrister was both damning and a fair assessment.
Boris Johnson has shown he is not only happy to destroy the fabric of our democracy; he is willing to endanger the lives of his fellow Parliamentarians, all in the pursuit of an agenda which he doesn’t even believe in, but which he calculates will buy him the acclaim he craves.
— The Secret Barrister (@BarristerSecret) September 25, 2019
Ed Miliband had this to add.
In my 4+ years opposing David Cameron I never saw a parliamentary performance like tonight’s from Boris Johnson: deeply irresponsible, stoking division, using dangerous, inflammatory language, fanning the flames of hatred. This is not about right and left but right and wrong.
— Ed Miliband (@Ed_Miliband) September 25, 2019
Doesn’t chaos with Ed Miliband look like the holiday of a lifetime right now?
Source: Twitter Image: Sky News, Twitter, screengrab
Read more: This Labour MP’s furious takedown of Boris Johnson’s government is quite the watch
