Status: 08.07.2022 10:37 a.m
Great Britain has had enough of Prime Minister Johnson – even if he doesn’t want to admit it, says British political scientist Glees in the ARD morning magazine. His behavior towards his own party is also disrespectful and self-centered.
The British political scientist and contemporary historian Anthony Glees calls the government crisis in London “monkey theatre” on ARDmorning magazine. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s “so-called resignation speech” on Tuesday doesn’t deserve its name, he says and judges: “Johnson has been a nutcase all his life. He doesn’t know what the word truth means. Not just since 2019, when he became prime minister – but his whole career is built of chaos and lies.”
To person
Anthony Glees, political scientist and contemporary historian, is a professor at the University of Buckingham and heads the Center for Security and Intelligence Studies, BUCSIS. As the British son of two parents who emigrated from Germany, he sees himself as a European and observes the European Union with particular interest.
“This is an outrage”
In the speech, Johnson only listed things that he himself thinks he did very well – from the completed exit of Great Britain from the EU to the support for the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj: “No apologies, no acknowledgment of the many lies, none Acknowledgment of the great damage he has done!”
Regarding rumors from the British press that Johnson first wants to catch up on a big wedding party with his wife Carrie Johnson, Glees says – in an allusion to the Partygate scandal about celebrations at the official residence that Johnson organized during the lockdown: “Party, again Party! That’s outrageous, cheeky! But with his cheeky way of doing politics, I don’t think it’s over until he really has to be thrown out of 10 Downing Street.”
Anthony Glees, contemporary historian: “Johnson has been a nut all his life. He doesn’t know what the word truth means.”
Morning magazine, July 8, 2022
“Very self-centered”
When asked how much support Johnson has among the people and how he was able to hold out for so long despite numerous scandals, Glees says: Johnson used his persuasiveness to sell Brexit as something positive for Great Britain – he also referred to the electoral success of 2019, when he had brought an 80-seat majority and many Labor seats in Parliament to the Tories – “completely disrespectful for their own Conservative party but very self-centered”.
At the same time, during his tenure, Johnson has received support from the tabloid media while fiercely pressuring the BBC. As a result, the headlines painted a different mood than prevailing among the people, says Glees: “The British are fed up with Boris Johnson. He doesn’t want to understand it, but those are the facts. And it’s crazy that he doesn’t perceives.”