British Prime Minister Boris Johnson stunned observers Thursday when he insisted in a TV interview that he had never lied in his political career.
Ive never tried to deceive the public, and Ive always tried to be absolutely frank, he said in an interview on ITV News.
I may have got things wrong, I may have been mistaken, but Ive never tried to deceive people about the way I see things.
Can you look me in the eye and tell me you havent lied in your political career? asked interviewer Paul Brand.
Johnson responded: Absolutely not . Absolutely not apparently meaning he can look Brand in the eye and say he absolutely has not lied.
\"Can you look at me in the eye and tell me you haven't lied in your political career?\", @PaulBrandITV asks Boris Johnson.
\"Absolutely not\", the PM replies.
More: https://t.co/ZINrPPPFjI pic.twitter.com/exnRD0Vrzm
"Can you look at me in the eye and tell me you haven't lied in your political career?", @PaulBrandITV asks Boris Johnson.
ITV News Politics (@ITVNewsPolitics) November 28, 2019
"Absolutely not", the PM replies.
More: https://t.co/ZINrPPPFjI pic.twitter.com/exnRD0Vrzm
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Earlier this month, British journalist Peter Oborne wrote: I have been a political reporter for almost three decades and have never encountered a senior British politician who lies and fabricates so regularly , so shamelessly and so systematically as Boris Johnson.
Johnson has been widely criticized for lying using Donald Trumps playbook and the media has been criticized for failing to call him out on it. Johnsons claims, for example, that his administration is building 40 new hospitals and that 20,000 more police officers are on the streets fighting crime have been shot down by the independent fact-checking organization Full Fact . He repeatedly mischaracterizes the positions of Labor leader Jeremy Corbin, who is seeking to unseat Johnson in December. He was sacked from a ministers role in 2004 by then-Conservative leader Michael Howard for lying about an affair.
Johnson owned up Thursday to possibly causing offense but not to any deception.
Im not going to pretend that in my political career I have not said or done things that have, you know, caused offense, that I havent made mistakes, Johnson said. Ive certainly made mistakes.
So he can absolutely not tell you he hasnt lied???
Just what I thought.
Straight from the horses mouth..
So he can absolutely not tell you he hasnt lied???
ellen schuringa (@Paycottage) November 28, 2019
Just what I thought.
Straight from the horses mouth..
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