“I don’t believe in gestures,” said the man who last year drove a Brexit-branded tractor through a styrofoam wall emblazoned with the word “GRIDLOCK”.
That man was of course Boris Johnson, who made the easily-disprovable statement on LBC radio on Friday morning while discussing taking a knee in support of Black Lives Matter.
The PM said: “I do not believe in gestures, I believe in substance.” LBC: "Would you take the knee?"Me: "I don't believe in gestures, I believe in substance"#BorisHasFailedUKpic.twitter.com/O2RZ7FGVze— Parody
Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson_MP) July 3, 2020So, in the interests of stating the absolutely bloody obvious, here are 5 times in the very recent past that Boris Johnson has performed a grand gesture whilst simultaneously being criticised for doing little to nothing of substance on the issue.The NHSJohnson had absolutely no problem showing support and solidarity with the NHS during the first few weeks of lockdown, as he appeared on the steps on No 10 and clapped along with the nation for the Thursday ritual of Clap for Carers.
Here he is, surrounded by a multitude of lovely hand-drawn gestures in the windows of the house in which he resides.Of course during this period, there was quite a bit of focus on how the NHS would cope with a pandemic given the toll that years of austerity had taken on the health service.
Johnson of course did this every week except for the ones during which he himself was being tended to by the NHS, which brings us to...CoronavirusIt wasn’t necessarily a gesture at the time, but Johnson made the act of shaking hands with
Coronavirus patients into one when he held it up as an example of how the virus would not stop going about his prime ministerial business.
“I was at a hospital the other night where I think a few there were actually coronavirus patients and I shook hands with everybody, you’ll be pleased to know, and I continue to shake hands,” he said on March 3.
Just over a month later Johnson would be in intensive care and those first weeks of March where his government refused to impose a lockdown would later be cited as a major factor in the UK’s massive death toll.The biscuits Last month Johnson appeared in a bizarre video in which he brandished an actual packet of biscuits at the camera while grinning like a small child who has just found said packet of biscuits.
It was all part of the pitch for a beneficial trade deal between the
UK and Australia and
New Zealand, something he said would bring the countries “closer together than ever before”.
Aside from the expected mockery of the country’s designated adult waving a packet of biscuits, there was the more appropriate criticism that he was concentrating on something that makes up an absolutely tiny amount of the UK economy and was therefore wasting everyone’s time on... what are they called again? Oh that’s right, pointless gestures.Seriously? Wine, boomerangs, Penguins, Marmite, Vegemite and Arnott’s Tim Tams? Well, that should add about ... {checks notes} .... 0.00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000027% to our GDPWell worth
BREAKING European trade for. 👌pic.twitter.com/ksIGEWFeMk— Dr Mike Galsworthy (@mikegalsworthy) June 17, 2020The push upsOnly a few days ago to prove he had recovered for Covid-19 the PM got on the floor during an interview with the the Mail on Sunday to prove he was as “fit as a butcher’s dog” and “full of beans”.What a bizarre interview - “more Woking that woke” Boris Johnson is pure David Brent. Proves austerity was a political choice. And those cringey push-ups just make him look unfit to be Prime Minister. https://t.co/AnAr6EeMxc— Alice Perry (@aliceperryuk) June 28, 2020The kipperYes, that picture you may have seen before you clicked on this piece is actually real. That’s Boris Johnson menacingly waving a kipper over his head.
The purported reason for this frivolously fishy fanfare was a claim that “Brussels bureaucrats” were behind rules about sending Isle of Man kippers by post, made at the final hustings of the leadership campaign which he went on to win.
The only problem was it simply wasn’t true – officials in
Brussels pointed out the rules were set in the UK and EU food safety commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis reminded Johnson, a former Brussels correspondent, that the Isle of Man is not in the
European Union.Boris, the Isle of Man is not bound to the #EU 'pointless and damaging' *red tape* in #foodsafety that we are proud of because it protects consumers.You omitted to say that the Isle of Man is not in the EU. This packaging - #uk competence.Yet another smoke. #fakenewshttps://t.co/8yv62TcoMV— Vytenis Andriukaitis (@V_Andriukaitis) July 18, 2019And if we go further back in time, there are numerous other classic examples of Johnson making gestures, usually of the bumbling variety, as many an individual on
Social Media were happy to point out on Friday.Boris Johnson: “I won’t take the knee for #BLM because I don’t believe in gestures”Also Boris Johnson: pic.twitter.com/X9IMcpk8ap— em green (@emilykgr) July 3, 2020Here is Boris Johnson, posing for the camera while signing a letter confirming he was resigning from the cabinet because Theresa May's
Brexit deal mean UK was heading “for the status of a colony."But he doesn't believe in gestures. https://t.co/BNOMcFKeFepic.twitter.com/NngpMFhyto— Patrick Smith (@psmith) July 3, 2020Boris "doesn't like gestures"? Got a bus with bollocks written on it says otherwise. pic.twitter.com/lonPqaSGBj— beth forrest & a bowl of ennuitabix 🏴 (@bethwritesstuff) July 3, 2020Boris Johnson shows off his
boxing skills with custom 'Get Brexit Done' gloves... 🥊🥊 pic.twitter.com/jft9RP5cpz— SPORTbible (@sportbible) November 19, 2019
So yes, it appears he does believe in gestures, just not the one he was asked about on Friday.Related... Boris Johnson Says He Would Not Take The Knee For Black Lives Matter 'Don't Overdo It': Boris Johnson To Warn Public Ahead Of Pubs Reopening