Britain’s PM and his dad compete for gaffe of the day

Boris Johnson’s under-the-table handiwork revealed, Ivana Kottasova, CNN, September 30:

Charlotte Edwardes, now a columnist at The Sunday Times, (says) Johnson squeezed her thigh under the table during a lunch two decades ago … “Under the table, I feel Johnson’s hand on my thigh. He gives it a squeeze. His hand is high up my leg and he has enough inner flesh beneath his fingers to make me sit suddenly upright,” she wrote.

An inadvertent joke? Media Mole, The New Statesman, October 4:

A journalist for the BBC asked Boris Johnson’s dad Stanley what happens at Christmas lunch in the Johnson family household, considering their differing views about Brexit. “Well Christmas lunch, you eat the turkey. You have to decide, there’s some pretty key decisions to be made, I mean, you’ve got some Remainers on one side and Leavers on the other, my line is to say, OK chaps, what is it going to be? Is it going to be breast or is it going to be thigh?” Unable for a few seconds to believe that the Prime Minister’s father would make a reference to “thigh” following the recent allegations that Johnson had squeezed women’s thighs under the table, the journalist splutters in response: “Yeah, and what does Boris say? Does Boris say breast or thigh?” As Stanley realises his gaffe, he lets out a kind of desperate, soundless laugh and adds: “When I say breast or thigh, I’m talking about the turkey, let me be clear.”

Abused by an expert, Terri-Ann Williams, Mailonline, Tuesday:

Climate activist group Extinction Rebellion has hit back at Prime Minister Boris Johnson after he called them “nose-ringed crusties in hemp smelling bivouacs”. The group, which has been causing chaos across London, has now claimed that Mr Johnson’s father Stanley supports their cause.

Keeping it within the family, Agence France-Presse, October 2:

It’s a bitter issue that has divided families … But Boris Johnson revealed that while he may have fallen out with his brother and sister over Brexit, at least his mum agrees. “I know there are some keen students of alleged div­isions in my family on matters of the EU but I want you to know that I have kept my ace up my sleeve, my mother voted Leave,” he told the Conservative Party conference … Stanley, a sup­porter of leaving the EU after initially backing Remain, was seen laughing … appearing to mouth the words: “I did not know that.”

Fed up with Brexit? Katie Weston, Express website, September 30:

Stanley Johnson also gave advice on what his son should do if the UK does not leave the EU by October 31. He then suggested France may not even grant an extension, as they are “completely fed up” with Brexit.

Kerry O’Shea, Irish Central website, September 4:

During an appearance on ITV’s Good Morning Britain last October one of the hosts asked Johnson if Margaret Thatcher would have been able to negotiate Brexit … Johnson replied: “Do you know what Mrs. Thatcher would have said? She would have said it’s quite intolerable that this whole question of a Northern Ireland border has come to dominate the decision about the future of our country.” Johnson was then asked, how would Thatcher fix it? “Oh, she would have said, ‘Look, if the Irish want to shoot each other, they will shoot each other, whether there is a hard border or whether there is a soft border’.”

Mick Brown, The Telegraph, July 6: 

Stanley Johnson is patriarch of the UK’s 
most go-getting political dynasty … It can’t be altogether easy being Boris Johnson’s father, particularly now. Of course, you’d be proud that your son had climbed the greasy pole to the lofty heights — almost — of being PM. But the fretfulness, the concern, the sheer anxiety of waking up each day and wondering, “Oh God, what’s happened now?”