Boris Johnson’s downfall was not actually because of his reputation as a compulsive liar M0nica, it was because he continued to lie and was found out once too often.
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When a political leader lies on their CV - can you trust them?
(127 Posts)Or could it make you question the party?
I’ve always had a lot of sympathy for the Greens, but Zack Polanski has more than once”embellished” his background
The Green Party leader said on his official campaign website in 2020 that he was “currently working at the Ministry of Justice on their training & diversity programmes
However the MoJ has no record of Mr Polanski ever working for the department. When asked about the claim, a spokesman for Mr Polanski said he had worked for the “justice assessment committee”, which he described as “a programme to improve the diversity of justice appointments based in the MoJ”
Aye, right
When challenged over the discrepancies, the Green Party leader eventually admitted that, rather than working at the Ministry of Justice, he had been hired through an agency that supplied actors for role-play scenarios to a quango responsible for interviewing would-be judges. As part of the recruitment process, judicial candidates take part in mock courtroom exercises in which actors play criminals, prison guards and lawyers
Does that qualify Hugh Grant to be Prime Minister? (Love Actually)
Then there was his British Red Cross claim
On the eve of the local elections, Mr Polanski admitted that, despite repeatedly claiming otherwise while campaigning for elected office, he had never in fact been a “spokesperson” for the British Red Cross.
Not to mention all that obscurity over Rachel Reeves background as an Economist at the Bank of England when BBC2 revealed
Rachel Reeves's banking background has faced scrutiny following claims of exaggerated CV details and an alleged investigation into her expenses at HBOS (2006–2009). Investigations suggest she worked as a retail banking manager rather than an economist during that time
Are they taking us for mugs?
I remember a candidate for a teaching post many years ago. When we found that his CV did not stack up, he was politely shown the door.
But not our political leaders it seems.
Does not declaring large donations count as lying on your CV?
Or should that count as a different form of lying and deceit?
Boris's downfall was the result of his reputation as a compulsive liar. Once he got it, it followed him everywhere like a bad smell. Yes, the Conservative party elected him as leader and look where it got us, a ruined economy, a mishandled COVID emergency that put millions, if not billioms of money in his cronies pockets and rules that governed our lives, left many people having frightening and lonely deaths without their dear ones with them and which he and the cabinet did not see as applying to them.
If Polanski gets anywhere near power, remember Boris - and Bori at least had the advantage of being a highly intelligent individual. Polanski is no fool, but that is something different.
Boris Johnson was sacked from his job as a journalist on the Times because he lied and made up quotes. Whether he put that on his CV or omitted it, who knows, but it is in the public domain.
LadyGracie
There was no mention of Boris’s CV up thread would you like to pick up on that too?
He's left politics, (thankfully) he is not an up and coming young politician like Polanski.
Many of our politicians have lied and obfuscated and, in most other walks of life, they would be shown the door as soon as they were found out. .
M0nica
What is worse is their apologies after the event when they have been found out. They are not sorry for lying, only for not being more careful so that they were not found out.
So true 👏👏👏
What is worse is their apologies after the event when they have been found out. They are not sorry for lying, only for not being more careful so that they were not found out.
No - you have to lie to fit in with all the other liars in government. It’s a special club and you are only admitted if you tell whacking great porkies.
M0nica my comment was about Statmer. In response to LadyGracie who said:
And Starmer and his many lies
I may forgive a politician for a slight embellishment to his cv but the Polanski lies go far beyond that, not that I would ever vote for him and his crazy policies anyway.
I wonder why they do it, in this age of instant discovery?
Putting aside the dishonesty, not to ignore it, just attempting another aspect.
Is it a sign of stupidity?
When they must know they will be found out.
Downright lies, not nuanced enhancement, which is common on CVs
but actual untruths, which will be found out?
Should we vote for stupid people?
Kemi Badenoch claimed her SATs scores won her a partial scholarship to Stanford University. But a former Stanford admissions officer (in post at the relevant period) stated he did NOT offer her a place and it was "implausible" that a student would be offered a partial scholarship they could not afford.
Badenoch's embellishment was exposed in direct response to Badenoch heavily criticising Rachel Reeves for embellishing her CV. The Lib Dems called on Badenoch to "come clean" on her actual academic record. She went quiet.
In answer to the question- it definitely undermines trust and I question their judgement in deciding to do so.
The list is long of politicians that have been found to have embellished/lied on their CVs- some examples: Rachel Reeves, Kemi Badenoch, Jonathan Reynolds, Robert Jenryk, Andrea Leadsom, Grant Shapps, and famously Jeffrey Archer- its not new.
There are questions over a couple of things to do with Badenoch. Her education achievement is one.
I didn’t by extension accuse all MPs of being less than truthful, but where the cap fits…….
GrannyGravy13
MawsRosie blimey even I have confused myself (not difficult 😹)
I didn’t think you were accusing all MP’s of lying, but that you were asking a broader question regarding their candour on their CV’s
Nope!
I started with Polanski’s dodgy CV claims, but also referred to «political leaders» including Rachel from Accounts who as Chancellor is a sort of «leader»
Badenoch and Ed Davey, as fas I know, they have never claimed to be anything they are not.
Oh, I don't know. Didn't Badenoch claim to be working class because she did a temporary stint in McDonalds?
MawsRosie blimey even I have confused myself (not difficult 😹)
I didn’t think you were accusing all MP’s of lying, but that you were asking a broader question regarding their candour on their CV’s
I'm not sure Starmer is in the same league as Putin.
Apologies for derailing thread.
Of course MawsRosie, just responding to a direct call.
Back on track now.
Well said.
The problem particulalry of Polanski is that he is a party leader, not just a member, even a Parliamentary elected member, but a party leader. In his case he is someone who has come from nowhere to somewhere in a very short period.
Polanski's particular weakness is to pretend to be what he is not, to claim experiences he hasn't had, and while there are plenty of criminals and wife beaters among our MPs, there is a particular distaste for those who pretend to be what they are not, to have experience they have not had, it brings them too close to being, in modern terms, scammers, and people who do that tend to find themselves very rapidly on the outside looking in.
I would no more vote for a party led by a Polanski than I would vote for a party led by a Farage. Keir Starmer is, at least, just a plain old fashoned, power grabber and like so many such, he is determined to keep his grasp on power no matter how much his party and the electorate want him to go. With Starmer we know what he is - and he is just one of many similar leaders, Trump, Putin, That bloke in Turkey. Thankfully for us, the means of unwinding those grasping fingers can be done fairly easily in this country, much as they did in Hungary, but a leader who lies continually about his past, claiming expereinces and employers he did not have, a compulsive liar, that is a very different thing, and is always pushed to the margins - except in the Green party.
Badenoch and Ed Davey, as fas I know, they have never claimed to be anything they are not. Nor has any leader of any large party in recent history.
Maremia
He lied to us about BREXIT, GG13. I can't say that often enough.
It was his lying that cost him his position as PM.
If you want to morph this Thread into 'lies that Johnson told', I am happy to join in.
I’d be sorry to see a change of direction.
This was started about CVs.
Perhaps a new thread if you really want to —rehash— go over all that stuff again?
GrannyGravy13
Not sure where the confusion is coming from 🤷♀️ or is it deflection.
I understood that you meant all MP’s and were just using RR and ZP as examples MawsRosie
I would not dream of accusing ALL MP s of lying on their CVs - only those who have been found out 🤣
You’d think they’d learn wouldn’t you?
GrannyGravy13
Not sure where the confusion is coming from 🤷♀️ or is it deflection.
I understood that you meant all MP’s and were just using RR and ZP as examples MawsRosie
I think that's how most respondents understood it.
Perhaps the thread title should have been more explicit?
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