Sugar has claimed Boris Johnson becoming Prime Minister would be “good news” as the public would vote for him over “horrible” Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Never mind the fact last October Lord Sugar said the Boris Johnson “should be imprisoned, or at least prosecuted”. Today he “seriously backs” him for Prime Minister
The ex-Labour peer said he “seriously backs” the frontrunner to be the next Prime Minister.
without an ounce of hypocrisy, he said “Boris is actually quite liked by the population” and “anybody who can stop Corbyn being elected, I would back them.”
It comes eight months after Lord Sugar declared Mr Johnson should be imprisoned or prosecuted for misleading the public in the 2016 Brexit campaign.
He told the House of Lords in October: “It is my belief that a large section of the British public was misled informing their decision to vote to leave.
Misleading shareholders has resulted in prosecution and imprisonment.
“Applying the public company principle, it would follow that those people who will be responsible for putting this country into five to 10 years of post-Brexit turmoil based on lies – such as Boris Johnson and Michael Gove for the £350 million lie on the red bus – should be imprisoned, or at least prosecuted.”
He added at the time: “I was fuming that somebody did not ask Boris Johnson to put his hand on his heart, look down the lens and tell the British public that the £350 million was a truthful statement.
One thing is for sure: I know that, in my forceful manner, I would have made him admit that he was lying. Who knows, perhaps that could have swung the vote.
It seems the birds of a feather really do stick together, Lord Sugar backs Boris Johnson in his bid to become Tory leader.
This week, however, after Mr Johnson took a commanding lead in the race to be the next PM, Lord Sugar took a rather different tune.
Sugar and Johnson have a lot in common, its well known that they both have a tendency towards casual racism and disdain over anything socialist.
The former Labour peer, who resigned from the party in 2015 and now sits as a Crossbencher, has repeatedly expressed his dissatisfaction with Mr Corbyn. Last year, he vowed to leave the country if the Labour leader ever becomes prime minister.
In an interview with the Press Association, Lord Sugar said:
I THINK THAT BORIS WILL GET THE JOB AND FROM MY POINT OF VIEW I WILL BE PLEASED WITH THAT, BECAUSE I’M THINKING BEYOND BREXIT AND TO THE NEXT ELECTION AND I THINK BORIS IS ACTUALLY QUITE LIKED BY THE POPULATION.
“AND WHILE THE POPULATION SHOULD NOT VOTE FOR A PERSON THEY LIKE, THEY SHOULD VOTE FOR THE POLICIES, THE REALITY IS THEY DON’T. THEY VOTE FOR SOMEONE WHO THEY LIKE. AND BORIS HAS GOT A GOOD CHANCE BECAUSE HE’S A LIKEABLE CHAP AND FROM MY POINT OF VIEW, ANYBODY WHO CAN STOP CORBYN BEING ELECTED, I WOULD BACK THEM.
He also questioned whether reports that Mr Johnson had said “f*** business” at a diplomatic gathering last year were factual.
Questioned on his U-turn today Lord Sugar tweeted: “Yes you are right but I am endorsing him for ONE reason only and that is to stop Jeremy Corbyn getting into power in 2021.
Sometimes you have to decide what is important to ME.
A few things causal racist have in common apart from trying to stop an anti-racist becoming Prime minister.
In June 2018, Sugar casually sent a ‘racist’ Senegal World Cup team tweet. The tweet featured a photoshopped picture of the team looking as though they were selling counterfeit goods. “I recognise some of these guys from the beach in Marbella. Multitasking, resourceful chaps,” Lord Sugar said.
After people criticised the tweet as being racist, Sugar responded by tweeting:
“Why not it is meant to be funny … for god sake” and “I cant see what I have to apologise for … you are OTT … its a bloody joke.”
Osasu Obayiuwana, the British-Nigerian associate editor of New African magazine and contributor to the BBC’s World Football show, wrote: “Dear @Lord_Sugar, I’m afraid no Senegalese or African will see this as funny. What you wrote was hurtful and plays to a racist stereotype. If you really don’t see what’s wrong with what you’ve written, you have a lot to learn still. You should know better!”
Stereotyping is OK if an apology is forthcoming it seems
Sugar subsequently took down the image, saying: “Just been reading the reaction to my funny tweet about the guy on the beach in Marbella. Seems it has been interpreted in the wrong way as offensive by a few people. Frankly, I can’t see that, I think it’s funny. But I will pull it down if you insist.”
I misjudged me earlier tweet. It was in no way intended to cause offence, and clearly my attempt at humour has backfired. I have deleted the tweet and am very sorry.
— Lord Sugar (@Lord_Sugar) June 20, 2018
An hour and 20 minutes after posting the initial image, Sugar used Twitter to issue a further apology, stating: “I misjudged me [sic] earlier tweet. It was in no way intended to cause offence, and clearly my attempt at humour has backfired. I have deleted the tweet and am very sorry.”
The BBC’s press office responded by posting to social media “Lord Sugar has acknowledged this was a seriously misjudged tweet, and he’s in no doubt about our view on this. It’s right he’s apologised unreservedly.”
A look at the history of offensive remarks which have defined Johnson’s political career.
Boris Johnson describing Commonwealth citizens as: PICCANINNIES” WITH “WATERMELON SMILES
His 2002 Telegraph column included racist insults against black people, citing “regular cheering crowds of flag-waving piccaninnies” in the Commonwealth and referring to “the tribal warriors… [who] all break out in watermelon smiles”. “Picaninnies” is a racist term used to describe black children.
Lest any doubt remain over the imagery being evoked, Johnson added in the same column of then Prime Minister Tony Blair:
“They say he is shortly off to the Congo. No doubt the AK47s will fall silent, and the pangas will stop their hacking of human flesh, and the tribal warriors will all break out in watermelon smiles to see the big white chief touch down in his big white British taxpayer-funded bird.”
Despite being an MP at the time of the column’s publication, Johnson didn’t apologise for these comments until he stood for Mayor of London in 2008 when he said he was “very sad that people have been so offended”.
Britain should be in charge of Africa again
Also writing in 2002, this time in The Spectator, Johnson suggested a reprise of the British Empire – in the best interests of Africa.
“The problem is not that we were once in charge, but that we are not in charge anymore,” he wrote. “Consider Uganda, pearl of Africa, as an example of the British record. The British planted coffee and cotton and tobacco, and they were broadly right. If left to their own devices, the natives would rely on nothing but the instant carbohydrate gratification of the plantain.”
He added: “The best fate for Africa would be if the old colonial powers, or their citizens, scrambled once again in her direction; on the understanding that this time they will not be asked to feel guilty.”
Papua New Guinea’s orgies of cannibalism
Writing in the Daily Telegraph again in 2006, Johnson made a comparison between internal party politics and Papua New Guinea – resulting in condemnation from the Papua New Guinea High Commissioner in London.
“For 10 years we in the Tory Party have become used to Papua New Guinea-style orgies of cannibalism and chief-killing, and so it is with a happy amazement that we watch as the madness engulfs the Labour Party,” he said.
While Johnson admitted afterwards that he would “add Papua New Guinea to my global itinerary of apology”, he refused to retract his comments entirely, insisting they were inspired by “relatively recent photos” in a Time-Life book.
Malaysian women go to university “to find men to marry”
During his time as London Mayor in 2013, Johnson chose the launch of the World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF) to make a “joke” about women’s equality in education.
When Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak responded to a question on the role of women in Muslim countries by highlighting the increased intake of women into universities in Malaysia, Johnson interjected that they “have got to find men to marry”.
Widely condemned as sexist and offensive by equalities campaigners and political opposition, the remarks were particularly poorly placed in the context of efforts designed to boost gender equality in parts of the world where women have limited economic opportunities.
Clearing the “dead bodies” in Libya
In October 2017, while serving as foreign secretary, Johnson said told a fringe event at the Conservative Party conference that Sirte in Libya could be a popular tourist destination of the likes of Dubai with the help of UK business people.
He said: “They literally have a brilliant vision to turn Sirte, with the help of the municipality of Sirte, to turn it into the next Dubai. The only thing they’ve got to do is clear the dead bodies away and then they’ll be there.”
Cross-party calls for Johnson’s resignation from the cabinet resounded – including from those within his own party, while the Lybian parliament demanded a formal apology. The foreign secretary, however, responded by accusing opposition MPs of “political point-scoring”, and he was allowed to remain in post.
Publishing racist content as Spectator editor
As well as his own offensive statements, Johnson has faced criticism for content which was published by other writers at the Spectator while he was editor.
One particularly racist article stated that “orientals” had “have larger brains and higher IQ scores”, while “blacks are at the other pole”.
When the article was raised by mayoral opponent Ken Livingston during his 2008 campaign, Johnson said he was “sorry for what was previously written as it does not reflect what is in my heart”.
Again just like Sugar Johnson thinks an apology makes it OK.
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