News

Imagine being the prime minister and plagiarising a barrister's blog for a Twitter thread? Yeah, Boris Johnson just did that

Imagine being the prime minister and plagiarising a barrister's blog for a Twitter thread? Yeah, Boris Johnson just did that
Reuters/Twitter

It can't be easy to be on Boris Johnson's PR team, can it? Given that every time he opens his mouth it just gets worse and worse.

Apparently he can't even be trusted to tweet without somehow causing a ridiculous Twitter storm.

The latest is his thread about the London Bridge terror attack, which he posted on Sunday.

In a 16-tweet thread, he decided to address the "complicated area of law" that led to the release of Usman Khan, a convicted terrorist who was released from prison and went on to kill two people on Sunday.

If it seems like a remarkably well informed and well articulated thread by the prime minister, that's because... it probably wasn't.

The Secret Barrister, an anonymous lawyer with a large social media following, quote-tweeted Johnson, explaining that the thread looked oddly familiar.

In a now-iconic line, the Secret Barrister refers to the situation as:

Weapons grade shithousery.

And, frankly, it's hard to disagree.

Some examples the Secret Barrister cites include linking to the exact same report, and repeating their "observation about the misreporting of Leveson Lord Justice’s comments about the involvement of the parole board".

Boris Johnson has yet to address the claims, and it's impossible to know whether he even wrote the thread himself. It's pretty hard to believe complex legal explainers would be left to a man who makes up quotes and waves kippers around to make political points.

Anyway, here's the Secret Barrister's blog post in question. You can make your own mind up.

MORE: 23 of the best and funniest reactions to Boris Johnson's 'car-crash' Andrew Marr interview

MORE: Jacob Rees-Mogg makes a remarkably swift exit when asked about Grenfell on the campaign trail

The Conversation (0)
x