‘Boris’

Peter Womack

doi:10.1111/criq.12611

Abstract

‘Boris’

Highlights

In a sense, we don’t know what Boris is like – because in general, out here in the public domain, we are not really acquainted with the celebrities we read about, and because this particular celebrity is famously mendacious
A small sample is enough to afford access to it, and I shall use, almost at random, a phrase from an interview in the Sunday Telegraph following the announcement of the Trade and Co-operation Agreement between Britain and the European Union (EU) on Christmas Eve, 2020
Johnson was asked about the clauses authorising the EU to impose tariffs if the United Kingdom should diverge in the future from European standards on workers’ rights and environmental protection, and he replied: ‘All that’s really saying is the

Summary

Introduction

We don’t know what Boris is like – because in general, out here in the public domain, we are not really acquainted with the celebrities we read about, and because this particular celebrity is famously mendacious. To try and keep it clear in this article, I shall identify the character not as Boris, but as ‘Boris’. This effect derives its political meaning from the general perception of politicians as inauthentic – not as liars necessarily, but as people who say blandly conventional things because they fear the consequences of saying what they really think.

Results

Conclusion