Human Stupidity ? - Election of Boris Johnson as Tory Leader

HUMAN STUPIDITY - a rejection of evidence, reason, and critical thinking

In July 2019 Boris Johnson was the front runner to succeed Theresa May as leader of the Tory Party and prime minister. 

Johnson's former boss at the Daily Telegraph, Max Hastings issued a stark warning to the Tory Party

I was Boris Johnson’s boss: he is utterly unfit to be prime minister

The Tory party is about to foist a tasteless joke upon the British people. He cares for nothing but his own fame and gratification

Guardian, Mon 24 Jun 2019: Full article here;

There is room for debate about whether he is a scoundrel or mere rogue, but not much about his moral bankruptcy, rooted in a contempt for truth.

He would not recognise the truth, .... if confronted by it in an identity parade

I have known Johnson since the 1980s, when I edited the Daily Telegraph and he was our flamboyant Brussels correspondent. I have argued for a decade that, while he is a brilliant entertainer ...he is unfit for national office, because it seems he cares for no interest save his own fame and gratification.

Tory MPs have launched this country upon an experiment in celebrity government,

His premiership will almost certainly reveal a contempt for rules, precedent, order and stability.

A few admirers assert that, in office, Johnson will reveal an accession of wisdom and responsibility that have hitherto eluded him, not least as foreign secretary. This seems unlikely

Dignity still matters in public office, and Johnson will never have it. 

Yet his graver vice is cowardice, reflected in a willingness to tell any audience, whatever he thinks most likely to please, heedless of the inevitability of its contradiction an hour later.

Like many showy personalities, he is of weak character.

Almost the only people who think Johnson a nice guy are those who do not know him.

..his elevation will signal Britain’s abandonment of any claim to be a serious country.

I have a hunch that Johnson will come to regret securing the prize for which he has struggled so long, because the experience of the premiership will lay bare his absolute unfitness for it.

.. the Tories, in their terror, have elevated a cavorting charlatan to the steps of Downing Street, and they should expect to pay a full forfeit when voters get the message.

They are about to foist a tasteless joke upon the British people – who will not find it funny for long.