Apologetic in Liverpool
I’m sorry I caused offence to Liverpool
I can’t remember what words Paul Bigley used to describe me yesterday afternoon, on the line to a BBC studio, but I think he said I was “a self-centred, pompous twit”. He wanted to say how much he disliked my appearance, my voice, my mannerisms, and how much he wished I would just disappear.
No matter how big your ego, there is something crushing in being so addressed, not just because I have never met Paul Bigley, but also because he has just suffered an appalling bereavement, and is the object of national sympathy.
How do you feel? they all asked, when I left the studio. Do you feel bad? asked the girls and lads with the cameras and the notebooks.
The answer was that I felt winded, drained by a sudden proximity to personal suffering and grief. I felt like Police Chief Brodie in Jaws, slapped round the face by the mother of the little kid killed by the shark.
There was nothing I could really say, except to repeat what we said in last week’s leader in The Spectator: that we had extended our maximum sympathy to him and his family.
Just as I was recovering from this encounter, I found myself sitting next to a survivor of the Hillsborough tragedy, and it may not surprise you to know that he took much the same view of me as Paul Bigley had, and that this was also pretty shattering.
You have good days, and less good days, and yesterday was one of the less good days. There are those who say that I should not have gone, and that it was unnecessary for The Spectator to apologise for the tiniest fraction of its leading article. We should have stuck to our guns, people tell me, and to hell with Liverpool and to hell with the Tory leadership.
Well, I am not so sure. It is true that there were plenty of people who were warm, and welcoming, and kind. There was the man in the park who was out for his morning run, wearing a tracksuit, who hailed me with the words: “Oi Boris, never mind the bollocks, a lot of what you said was true.” There was the Scouser at the airport who said, as he frisked me, that he agreed with every word of it.
But, in between, there were dozens and dozens of people who showed every sign of genuine hurt and incomprehension. Why did we make these cruel generalisations about welfare-addicted Liverpudlians? Why had we felt it necessary to drag in the Bigley family’s tragedy? Above all, why had we got our facts wrong about Hillsborough?
Of course, if I were simply an editor, and not an MP as well, I would have brushed it all off with a few phrases, nicely done up in an all-purpose letter of semi-apology, and asked my secretary to pp the letters. I would have remained behind the wonderful garden wall of journalism, able to chuck my rocks with no thought for the tinkling of the greenhouse.
But having been to Liverpool, and having been eyeball to glistering eyeball with those who felt they deserved an apology, I am glad I went, and I think at least some of them are a bit glad that I went, too.
I was able to say sorry for causing offence, and sorry for any hurt done to the Bigley family, and sorry for having reopened old wounds over Hillsborough, and that, in so far as we inaccurately represented the characteristics of the Liverpudlians, by resorting to some tired old stereotypes, I was sorry for that, too.
But, as I said on the radio, as I said on the street to a bunch of trainee nurses, as I said to everyone I met, this was only a partial and qualified apology. Michael Howard had called The Spectator’s leading article, “Nonsense from beginning to end.”
Well, I know of no doctrine that means members of the shadow front bench have to see eye to eye about every article that appears in the press, and in my view Michael is wrong on that. My view of our piece is that it spoke a lot of good sense, vitiated by tastelessness and inaccuracy.
There are some who say that it was outrageous that Johnson the editor should have been ordered to eat humble pie by Michael Howard. But they miss the point, that I was already consuming large quantities of humble pie before Michael made his suggestion, that any editor would have felt obliged to make some amends for that article – in view of the outrage that was provoked – and that, in any event, Johnson the politician apologises for and refuses to apologise for exactly the same things as Johnson the editor.
The leader was about the cult of sentimentality in modern Britain, which is allied to the cult of victimhood, and I wanted a leader on it not because I wanted to insult the people of Liverpool, but because I believe that we have a serious problem, in that we tend these days at every opportunity to blame the state, and to seek redress from the state, when things go wrong in our lives.
Yes, it was tasteless to make this point in the context of Ken Bigley’s death, and I am sorry for the hurt this has caused his family. But when the late hostage’s family said that Tony Blair had Ken Bigley’s “blood on his hands”, that was nonsense. Only those who killed Ken Bigley had his blood on their hands, and it should not be taboo to say so.
It is important to make this point about our tendency to blame the state, because we live in an increasingly atomised society, where the state does more and more, and emotions and affections that might once have been directed at family or neighbours are diverted into outbursts of sentimentality.
We are so ready to see ourselves as victims that we live in an increasingly hysterical health-and-safety compensation culture in which lawyers try to find someone else – usually the state – to blame for the misfortunes of their clients. That was the gist of the leader, and for that I make no apology.
Boris Johnson is MP for Henley and editor of The Spectator
***Later today/tomorrow updates on CONSTITUENCY NEWS ITEMS***
145 Comments
Why do so many people feel the need to express an opinion about Ken Bigley’s death, scousers and Boris Johnson when it patently has nothing to do with them. There are even yorkshiremen who live in newcastle commenting, when it has obviously got nothing to do with their lives.
Do these people have deep seated personality flaws, prompting them to seek attention on websites that, again, have nothing to with them?
Are they all sick?
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You Yorkshire Northern simpleton.
We don’t want your type on here either. go back to eating black pudding and racing whippets.
Alot of miners were from Yorkshire don’t forget.
all you lot are the same.
Razor
Melton
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Well done boris. Why must people be berated for telling the truth just because some people don’t agree with it. Ok there were some inaccuracies in the article, but the gist was true.
We need more people in this country to stand up for what they beleive in rather than toe the “pc” line. The majority moderate opinion is too ofte ignored.
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You see, even though none of this has anything to do with me I have to comment. I think it is because I was bottle-fed as a child.
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dunc,
If the book was indeed stolen in Birmingham then I do withdraw that observation totally and thank you for putting me straight.. Shows that there are idiots everywhere. My other comment stands.
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This comment board seems to shows the myriad our supporters.Well done to you all, Great Britain is all about freedom of speech.
Something I feel Liverpudlians would do well to understand.
They should keep quiet and maybe take others opinions.
All Boris said was that they were responsible for the Hillsborough disaster and they have a central flaw in their personalities.
Which after seeing Derek Hatton I believe they have.
Well done Boris for saying as it is.
Now can we have an article that exposes Mancunians for the drug taking gun ridden lowlife they are and one exposing Lancashire as a county full of Bangladeshis and Cheshire ‘society’ as the depraved psuedos they are.
Well done Boris may you have a coconut tree planted in your honour!
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Hello Boris,
I can understand the Bigley family being in the most terrible state of grief, but I have to agree with your article, and also commend you for your honest and forthright apology. Paul Bigley has strong feelings at the moment, and they showed in strong words, but those words did more harm to Paul Bigley in my opinion, they were totaly unjustfied. Perhaps he will feel differently as time passes,perhaps not, but you did your best.
You’re a great personality that is desperately needed in British politics.
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my god boris wot have you done you have attracted more children than the pide piper and a few rats, not to mention a lord mind u by his ranting above put him with the rats.
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Exaxctly, Hilary, so what if they haven’t found his body yet, his mother was old and knew he was going to dangerous places.
He must have taken the good advice of Norman Tebbit!
The ‘people’of Liverpool had the audacity to have TWO church services and have a two minute silence.
Now if Big Boris had passed the article after Soham I might have been a bit peeved- but it actually showed how mawkish Liverpool people are.
If there had been more cameras in the land that time forgot- I bet in ‘Walton’people would have been saying they knew the family!
and I think people would have been breaking down in tears randomly and re-iterating the fact of self-pity city.
I hope when they do find his body they don’t go over the top again and want some kind of burial.
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Boris has come out of this smelling of roses, excellent, how can anyone not like the man?
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Hey, don’t Judge us northerners by our worst specimens. Some of us don’t subscribe to this class war nonsense.
Mind, I am a middle-class tory from a middle-class tory town that just happens to be in the north, so the whole stereotype is wrong anyway…
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Why did you have to pick Liverpool, and a Liverpudlian who had recently been slowly and painfully decapitated on international television as an example? This surely is the height of tastelessness, and all to make your article ‘topical’. Truly pathetic. Of course, this crassness does not invalidate the broader point that might have been better made with reference to the frankly weird, and moreover national, outpouring of sympathy after Diana’s death. But of course your readers like Diana, and don’t like Liverpudlians. Or am I the one unfairly generalising now?
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sorry saul and others who are having a go at boris but i dont agree with what you are saying.
the simple truth is ken bigley went to iraq to earn himself a nice bit of money. he didnt go out there to help anybody, except himself. im sorry if youre finding this hard to accept, but if he came from anywhere else in the country it wouldnt be an issue. once again liverpudlians are blowing everything totally out of proportion.
and another thing… isnt it funny how liverpool fans will make such a fuss about hillsborough but as soon as heysel is mentioned theyre a little less vocal. very strange.
also, as some people STILL wont accept boris’s apology, doesn’t this prove that they love to wallow in their moment of tragedy?
lets put things into perspective. one mercinary man dies, admittedly the way he died was horrific and should fall upon nobody, and the city is thrown into mourning. a minutes silence here and a book of well wishes there.
how about the soldiers dying out there? there’s not a minute’s silence in a city everytime one of them dies. some might say “oh well they chose to go in the army, they have to expect it”. to that i say “ken bigley knew the risks when he went out there, he should have expected it”
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You might look up a recent poll held by AOL, 68% of those who voted were in favour of the comments made by Boris about Liverpool, I being one of them. Tell Boris to keep up the good work, we need more people like him in this Country. (although I have no checked his MPs expence claim yet) Kindest regards
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Good lad Boris. If I were you I would worry more about your leaders lack of support than the cry-babies proving your point. If Howard showed even the slightest hint of having the cajones to lead I might consider voting Conservative. There are a lot of us out here in a wilderness bereft of a political home. I personally am waiting for a party to emerge whose leaders and policies are honest and not a namby pamby mix of political correctness that represents only the interests of vocal minority groups.
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Who the hell is Paul Bigley to tell Boris to resign. He is NOTHING. Boris is a democratically elected MP, he has made a ‘mistake’ and he is apologising like a man. Paul Bigley is no-one: his only claim to fame is that his brother died.
The Bigley family are the people who should get out of public life as soon as possible.
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Boris is a giant!
Boris was big enough to go to Liverpool and apologize – Liverpool was not big enough to accept it!
The Blair Broadcasting Corporation was delirious with the situation, repeating over and over again Mr Bigley’s rant – the same Mr Bigley that told Tony Blair he had blood on his hands.
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The people of Liverpool did not make a big thing over Ken Bigley’s death but were attacked by the Spectator’s leading article and, in the main don’t give a monkey’s about the article.
However, the media give the Bigley affair massive coverage and the media has hyped up the need to apologise and the sense of outrage felt in Liverpool. Those attacking the people of Liverpool in the posts above don’t know the place or anything about its people. We don’t bloody care the article, nasty as it paragraph about Liverpool is. If it were not for the libellous and incorrect sentence about Hillborough, the article would have been best ignored entirely. Even as it is, most people in Liverpool couldn’t care less.
Boris Johnson’s article in this week’s Spectator and his words of apology are well judged. Apology accepted!
In other circumstances, from what I can ascertain about the man, Liverpool and Boris Johnson would probably get on well. Liverpool on the whole is a well-meaning and laid-back city that likes joke and enjoy itself. Rather like Boris.
It is highly depressing how many people are so eager to believe that Liverpool had (a) over reacted to Bigley’s murder and (b) over reacted to the Spectator and use these false assumptions to excuse their venting of their hatred of the people of the city. Very sad. It’s not very becoming to br prejudiced and full of hate for any group of people.
Anyway, Liverpool nowadays has one of the fastest growing economies of any big city in the UK, our cultural institutions are unrivalled outside of London and we have a beautiful, riverside city, now a World Heritage Site and which is now finally being renovated to its potential as money makes a reappearance in the city. We like ourselves and we love our city. We can take a silly article in a barely-read London magazine thank you very much. And despite the fact that this board seems to indicate that many of our countrymen seem to hate us for reasons I cannot understand, we don’t hate you back. You simply must not know any better.
Come and visit us, especially in 2008 when we are Capital of Culture – the cultural riches, architectural heritage, buzzing nightlife and friendly people might take you by surprise. And that includes Mr Johnson himself – I look forward to his visit in 2008. Simon Heffer might as well stay home though – I don’t he would be able to appreciate what’s good about the place
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Well said Boris. I cannot say any more than what has already been said, but I applaud you on all you have said.
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Another Liverpudlian has taken the sword to Boris – this time on television. Paul O’Grady began his stint on Parky’s show tonight by ‘working’ the audience against Boris, wanting Boris to crawl on the ground like a snake and to beg for forgiveness.
Boris is well advised to leave these neo-socialist ‘Huttonites’ to their own devices and concentrate on becomming the next leader of the Conservative Party and a future PM of this country.
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Next time Borris apply the stick to the teacups (smile)
I think life is too short to waste it on storms in TV studio teacup, mediocre wine, and artificial flowers.
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Good man, Boris. I support you whole-heartedly. Mind you, I don’t think you should have went to Liverpool and apologised but that’s the penalty with having a PC party leader. Keep it up and don’t be silenced! Best wishes.
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A few facts about Hillsborough.
The Police Officer in charge of public safety gave instructions that the gates to the ground should be opened in order to avoid risk of injury outside.
Within ten minutes of the game being abandoned (3.06pm) the same Police Officer issued a statement that the problems had been caused by Liverpool fans outside the Leppings Lane end breaking down the gates.
Those who died were all ticket holders. They died crushed against the cages at the front of the terrace – many were young because they arrived at the ground early to ensure they could get a good view of the game.
The Sun published a front page story within days of the event headlined: ‘HILLSBOROUGH: THE TRUTH’ which alleged that Liverpool fans were drunk, stole from the corpses of the dead and urinated on Police Officers attempting to revive the injured. Oh yes, and they deliberately turned up late, without tickets in order to force their way into the ground.
The source of the story is thought to have been from within the South Yorkshire Police. None of it was true.
Now… imagine how hurt people were caused by The Spectator’s editorial which re-opened these wounds.
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You would think a journalist and front line politician would be interested in the story written by Paul Mooney (above) but they seem more interested in insulting innocent people.
But they seem much keener to appear on have i got news for you.
Are they all mentally impaired?
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first people who like to hurt amiamals for fun v intervering goverment types, than peter tachell agaist black rappers and now moaning liverpudlians and this idiot johnson
oh what a great few weeks!
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I have to say I do think it was a bad idea to dig up the past of the Hillsborough tragedy, especially when the facts are misquoted. However I completely agree with everything else you had to say. It’s outrageous and almost disgusting that all these people who don’t know the guy (Bigley) are expected or even want to have minutes silences and honour this man that they don’t know anything about, when a while back 12 Nepalese were killed in Iraq and it was barely mentioned.
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Why are you all giving credit to Boris when he didn’t write a word of the article?
Are you all subnormal?
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Simon
Subnormality must not be allowed to permeate this site:
I remember some time ago when I worked for the member for Wirral West (before that it was the Gravesham member – the one whose voice you insisted in describing in robotic terms – and the ping pong correspondence that followed… ) you referred to Brazilians as: “They all live in the jungle, don’t they, eating bananas?”.
I believe that your light may well be hiding under a bushel in all this…Anyone care to investigate? Anything we can do to ensure that the spotlight swivels round to shine on the dazzling truth?
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Alistair- as if any rightminded Londoner would want to visit the provinces let alone Liverpool.
As the great Social Commentator Y Batchilly once said ‘to be bored of London is to be bored of life.’
yup yup yup!
I think Boris and the majority of his wellwishers on here would agree.
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I once went to Liverpool and I was amazed that people still used horses and the water was only available at certain times in the day.
It is the only mainland British city to still employ ‘knocker upper’s’ as the City’s lighting is still run on gas.
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YOU DA MAN, BORIS!
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YOU DA MAN, BORIS!
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YOU DA MAN, BORIS! YOU DA MAN, BORIS! YOU DA MAN, BORIS! YOU DA MAN, BORIS! YOU DA MAN, BORIS! YOU DA MAN, BORIS! YOU DA MAN, BORIS! YOU DA MAN, BORIS! YOU DA MAN, BORIS! YOU DA MAN, BORIS! YOU DA MAN, BORIS! YOU DA MAN, BORIS! YOU DA MAN, BORIS! YOU DA MAN, BORIS! YOU DA MAN, BORIS! YOU DA MAN, BORIS! YOU DA MAN, BORIS!
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Boris is right about mawkishness.
I mean it’s not as if the North got bombed in the war like the East End was.
God bless Queen Elizabeth.
J Francis
3 St Ives Road
East Ham
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Boris should recognise the role of his media colleagues in stirring up the mass mawkish movement. If Ken Bigley’s ongoing treatment had been consigned to one paragraph shorts on page 2 of the Telegraph and one sentance, no image, updates on the television news then I have no doubt the nation’s sense of perspective would not have been distorted to such an extent.
Let’s have more sound judgement from the people who control the media and less crap about giving the readers/viewers “what they want”.
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How dare you insult the good people of liverpool.you are a joke and should resign immediately cause u will never be respected fully again
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The storm swelled not because of the tone of the article, but because there are not a few disillusioned readers who are highly irritated by the continued propagation of fatuous stereotypes in today’s media. One only has to wade through the (occasionally amusing) swamp of contradictions and inaccuracies that constitute Taki Theodoracopulous’weekly column to know why.
Fortunately Taki is in the main laughed off as a basket case, but when a Spectator leader recylces tired old canard, with the prejudiced hand of Heffer allowed to work freely and unhampered by considerations of fact or reality, then we have a problem.
Such scribblings may be suited to The Mail, which presumably pays Heffer’s mortgage, but has no place in an intellectually superior publication such as yours, which seeks to challenge its readers through polemical but well thought out arguments, and not merely fan the flames of prejudice with outright lies.
As such, you got your apology spot on, Boris. By all means stand by your article, however offensive some may find it, as long as it is based on fact or logic. You were therefore entirely correct to retract the factual inaccuracies: that most Liverpudlians are “welfare-addicted” and that the “50″ who died (it was actually close to twice that number) at Hillsborough were victimes of their own lack of sobriety. Prejudiced rants may be Heffer’s stock-in-trade, but it brings neither you nor your estimable publication much credit.
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Seems to me that the ever-so-slightly hysterical reaction of some people to this whole affair kind of supports the original point that was being made in the Spectator article that caused all the fuss (which was, incidentally, a jolly good piece that made several valid points).
It is not at all sporting of these people who are being so nasty, after all, I don’t know who but somebody important did once say that to err is only human, but to forgive is divine. That seems to just about cover it.
Personally I think that you handled the whole thing just about as well as anyone could have, proper job!
Nothing that has happened over the past month has made me think the worse of you, I loved your books and am eagerly awaiting the next.
Keep up the good work Boris!
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When am I going to get the credit for this? Boris didn’t write the article, so what are you idiots praising him for? It is I, Simon Heffer, your dark lord, your evil scribe, I shall be king!!!
[Ed: are you joking?!]
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Scousers revel in every perceived injustice, and are desperate to have someone to blame. It’s sickening.
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i think boris should become pm because of his honesty even though i have always been labour i would think again
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No need to think again J Bednall…Boris is our man!
What we need is a new political party altogether for honest Boris to lead. The old parties are riven with corruption with another two (straight off the EU gravy train) heading for the House of Lords. ‘Cricket ground digger’ Peter Hain is trying to give them a coat of white wash before they go, but that is a waste of time.
It is time to start again with the BORIS PARTY – vote out the old and vote in the new in 2005.
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GO ON Boris! You knows those scousers are a load of knobjockeys. You shouldnt have apologised, they deserve everything they get. Bum Lepers!
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Boris didnt write the article, Simon Heffer did.
I repeat, BORIS DID NOT WRITE THE ARTICLE!!!
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If Simon Heffer wrote the article, why didn’t he have the bottle to go to Liverpool and defend it or apologise?
Boris has demonstrated his courage, integrity, charisma, leadership and sheer common sense. The Tories should realise that if they’re ever going to get another crack at government, they should replace Howard with Boris without delay.
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I didn’t acknowledge it because I am a *********[Ed: no bad language] obviously.
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“There was the Scouser at the airport who said, as he frisked me, that he agreed with every word of it.
But, in between, there were dozens and dozens of people who showed every sign of genuine hurt and incomprehension. Why did we make these cruel generalisations about welfare-addicted Liverpudlians? ”
-This part made me laugh: I thought, oh dear Boris is going to tell us about all the people in Liverpool who agreed with him, but at least you are (with restraint) honest about the fact your reception was (deservedly) hostile in Liverpool.
A lot of the grief is about the North South divide – smug South-Easterners telling us in the North how to think -”pull yourselves together” and this feeds a lot of the hurt.
You were brave to go to Liverpool and admit that whatever the general thrust of the article you were WRONG to mock the people of a proud Northern city and yet again to use stereotypes of the people there.
You have a lot of charisma Boris, even though you are a complete nutter.
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Boris may be a nutter, but could he – in all honesty – do any worse that the performances of Michael Howard on a Wednesday during PMQ’s ?
Some of these Conservative MP’s are costing you and me £200,000 per annum, to have them sitting in Parliament like ‘nodding dogs’ in the rear shelf of a car.
Boris could do the work of them all put together – given half a chance.
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I think what a lot of people outside can’t comprehend is the bad timing of your comments. Us Scouser are one of the best communities to take critiscm on the chin, and we are one of the very few with a sense of humour – both laughing at others as well as ourselves.
The problem with your comments were that they came at a time when the community was feeling low, and when we needed or expected the support of our fellow countrymen and it simply wasn’t there. Your comments along with the others from narrow-minded individuals throughtout the country were simply not what we needed to hear at the time.
For those that continued to slate Liverpool, I truly hope they never have to face the same thing, both a football incident as bad as Hillsborough and a beheading of a local man, having said that there is an ironic feeling that I would like them to be touched in the same way. If they do experience the same, then they will feel the same anguish that we feel, however what makes us different as people, is that we will support them no matter who or where they come from.
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Good stuff, and today we see that you are a victim yet again… the Tories have done themselves a lot of damage by failing to spot ‘star turns’ in the past, and Michael Howard is (at best) entering the twilight of his career… Boris on the other hand is one of the few politicians who can speak directly to the young generation of disenfranchised voters and should be made leader, not dismissed for some tabloid pap that has nothing to do with his work as a politician or a journlaist. Chin up Boris, and good luck!
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