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Editorial Wednesday 16 January 2018: The past is a foreign country: for Boris Johnson, the truth is too

Publish Date/Time: 
01/17/2018 - 15:22

L P Hartley's 'The Go-Between' opens with the magnificent line "The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there".

For HPI's favourite lying-buffoon-turned-Foreign Secretary Alexander Boris De Pfeffel Johnson, the truth is increasingly becoming a foreign country.

The Frank Sidebottom of Conservative politics briefed the Telegraph that of course the NHS must have more money because Brexit is going to return so much money to the UK.

Ahem.

Johnson said, ”for the Tories to beat Corbyn, it is fundamental that the government delivers on NHS funding and he will continue to make this argument until it happens.

“Every poll conducted shows the NHS is top of swing voter concerns and every expert says it needs more money - the Cabinet will have to act and the sooner the better.

“This isn't about the referendum, it's about listening to the public's priorities and beating Corbyn - colleagues should move on from the referendum debate and start to focus on the future”.

The paper reports that the mendacity-prone Foreign Secretary was also supported by Jacob Rees-Mogg, who said, “It is clear the NHS is under strain, the chief executive of NHS England has asked for this. It is important that implied promises are delivered on by politicians. I strongly support what Boris is saying.

“It became clear to me campaigning during the General Election that if we didn’t have a good case to make on 2022 on the health service we will be in real trouble”.

Mmmmmmm.

This is not the beginning of the end of The Conservative Party’s Civil War On NHS Funding, but it might be the end of the beginning.