Monday, 4 December 2023
A target for unlucky undertakings
COVID inquiry about 'scapegoating', Boris Johnson's sister says
Ahead of the former prime minister taking the stand on Wednesday and Thursday, Rachel Johnson has said the multi-year inquiry is a "show trial" just like the Parliamentary Privileges inquiry into partygate.
She told the podcast by Sky News and Politico that "100% it's about scapegoating because, as I said, it's already been agreed that lockdown was the right thing to do.
"Therefore, the only questions they can really ask is, was it done properly? And if not, who do we blame? So this is going to follow the model of all public inquiries in recent years.
Know how to put off Ills on Others. To have a shield against ill-will is a great piece of skill in a ruler. It is not the resort of incapacity, as ill-wishers imagine, but is due to the higher policy of having some one to receive the censure of the disaffected and the punishment of universal detestation. Everything cannot turn out well, nor can every one be satisfied: it is well therefore, even at the cost of our pride, to have such a scapegoat, such a target for unlucky undertakings.
Baltasar Gracián - The Art of Worldly Wisdom (1647)
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3 comments:
An increasing amount of our political discourse consists of variants of "Some bigger boys did it/made me do it, and then ran away".
The COVID inquiry - not just any whitewash but an expensive blame redirection whitewash.
Sam - yes, it's demeaning too, but they don't appear to mind that.
DJ - and a huge report of the "findings" afterwards I suppose, with a summary for the media. All part of the game.
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