Sir Keir Starmer has accused Boris Johnson of being a “complete bullsh***er” who “took the p*ss” out of the public with his partygate explanations. The Labour leader said the outgoing Prime Minister had been “found out” as the country has a sense that “this guy doesn’t mean a word that he says”.
Asked for his honest assessment of Mr Johnson’s legacy, he told The Rest Is Politics podcast: “I think that he is a complete bullsh***er” and I think he’s been found out. And I’m really struck with the partygate stuff, because it wasn’t just that he did things which broke the rules, it’s that he then took the p*ss out of the public with his ridiculous defences afterwards.
“And in the local elections I accept that not everyone on doors was saying ‘it’s that that’s done it for me’, but there was a general realisation that this guy bullsh**s. And if he’s bullsh***ing about that, he’s probably bullsh***ing about everything.
“And all this stuff about levelling up, when people can see there’s not much happening round near them, I think there’s this sense that this guy doesn’t mean a word that he says, and that goes very, very deep, very deep. That’s why I don’t think there was ever any way back for him from that. And I think it’s really good for the country that we’re seeing the back of it.”
Sir Keir claimed that people like Mr Johnson “debase politics” and “drag everybody into the gutter”, which is “corrosive”.
He said: “I think one of the biggest issues and challenges in politics now is that because of people like Johnson who debase politics and drag everybody into the gutter, there is this general sense that you’re all the same. And that is the most corrosive thing, because once people think you’re all the same they lose heart in the idea that politics is a force for good, and that is a very dangerous place to get to.”
Downing Street has been approached for comment.
Mr Johnson still faces a potentially damaging parliamentary investigation into whether he lied to MPs over the partygate row. The Covid law-breaking events in Downing Street were among the scandals to force his resignation as Tory leader.
The Commons Privileges Committee’s inquiry threatens to further tarnish his legacy and could impact on his future as the MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip.
