The Assault on Truth: Boris Johnson, Donald Trump and the Emergence of a New Moral Barbarism Hardcover – 4 February 2021

An excellent and fascinating book that reveals the truth regarding the behavior of some politicians. A true must read in the world we inhabit.

The author's thesis is that Johnson has broken all norms for the conduct of a Prime Minister. He has deliberately and shamelessly lied whenever it has suited his purposes. Parallels with Trump are occasionally drawn, although the inclusion of Trump on the front cover is a little misleading, since he is very much a subsidiary character in the account.Contained within the book is not only a (perhaps excessively) lengthy set of examples, but weblinks for the reader to verify these. (Alas, whilst these would have worked wonderfully on Kindle, but - at least at the time of my purchase - the book was available in hard copy only.)I should also praise the construction of the book. The eight chapters each set out a specific objective of demonstration and the examples given match these objectives well.Thus, we have the makings of a 4* or 5* book. Alas, the telling of this story is simply tiresome. The two points which irritated me most are:(i) The incidence of first person singular pronouns is not just over the top, but so much so that reader is perhaps even more conscious of the author's amour propre than of his intense contempt for Johnson, and(ii) He talks past the sale in a way which causes one to wonder about his impressive reputation as a journalist. The relentless tone of the writing in this book reminded me of an episode of Frasier in which he offers to drive a prospective romantic partner on an eight-hour drive to enable them to get to know each other better. Barely have they set off, when she reveals herself to be a religious fanatic and he is going to be subjected to her attempt to convert him over the whole trip.This important analysis could (and should) have been devised as an essay of perhaps one-third of the length of book.

Brought this for my brother in law. He did say it was a good read and very topical.

Wow!This is 175 pages of compulsive, explosive reading. You can't put it down.The great Czech writer Milan Kundera (whose books you can also buy from Amazon) said:'The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.'This book will help you to remember the verbal chicanery that Boris and his ministers have been using during the Covid response, BREXIT and in previous careers - just in case you have turned off recently.Our prime minister appears to have told a lot of porkies, although Oborne reassures us that there are too many for a book this size, and maybe any book.Oborne still has a dig at the Left (thus asserting his traditional Tory values) and gets all misty eyed about past Tory Governments; he revisits very briefly what he wrote about Blair. However he mostly spends his time diligently exposing the lack of the value in truth our current Government displays so casually. Oborne is also very fair - he even points out where Boris has been less than truthful about Corbyn of all people.My only criticism of the book is when Oborne tries to lump Johnson and Trump together - he sort of loses the thread of this tack and does not quite carry it off for me.Wow#2!! Oborne is that rare commodity - a thoroughly decent Tory chap! Bask in his warm glow I say - there's not many of his type left.However, the most damning part of the book comes in towards the end. It is the abject failure of our institutions and checks and balances (the Nolan Committee standards, rules for Civil Servants and MPs, and Parliament itself) that seem to be mute about the inveterate fibbing that has been going on. This is the most chilling and troubling aspect of all that Oborne highlights. It has huge repercussions for the country and its future. Oborne calls this a 'moral emergency'.And Oborne is brave and right to point this out. Who controls a Government when it gets out of hand or refuses to bow to scrutiny? What recourse do we have? That is the big question at the end of this book. And its a huge one for such a small book.Highly Recommended.

If you are reading this, chances are you already have an interest in the subject; i.e, that Boris Johnson is economical with the truth. Trump gets an honourable mention now and again, but this is mainly about Boris and his porky pies. So, what do you want to know that you have not already figured out? You will not find much to surprise you in this slender piece. It is a diatribe, albeit a well-referenced, fact based one. But there is nothing here that cannot be gleaned from a compulsive daily scanning of the news. Yes, it's true! Politicians tell lies! As Peter Oborne, once a distinguished journalist and whose reputation precedes him admits, he finds it hard to get his views published these days. One cannot help wondering, after reading this, if it is more a case of someone having lost the plot, rather than a concerted media conspiracy to keep him quiet. The book is a rant and not far away from the kind of rant espoused by people who populate Westminster in funny trousers and hand-written placards.