5 Times Boris Johnson Most Definitely Did Believe In Gestures
“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, 2020
So, 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 NHS
Johnson 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...
Coronavirus
It 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