Boris visits Liverpool to apologise
The editor of the Spectator, and Shadow Arts Minister, is in Liverpool today to pay penance for an editorial in his magazine which claimed Liverpool was a city “hooked on grief”.
In a highly controversial leader published last week, the Spectator criticised the city’s reaction to the death of hostage Ken Bigley, accusing the city of “mawkish sentimentality” and caused outrage by seeming to be unclear on the exact number of people killed in the Hillsborough disaster and blamed drunken Liverpool fans for contributing to the tragedy.
Conservative Party Leader Michael Howard, who himself contested the Liverpool Edge Hill seat in 1966, quickly sought to distance the Conservatives from the remarks.
Mr Howard said: I totally disagree with the comment in The Spectator about Liverpool. I have nothing but the greatest admiration and affection for Liverpool and its people.
“I think what was said in the Spectator was nonsense from beginning to end.”
Though there was no suggestion that Mr Johnson would lose his Shadow post, but Mr Johnson admitted to have received a verbal “kick in the pants” from his leader.
Though the exact timetable for his visit has not been released, Mr Johnson is expected to take part in a number of local radio phone-ins.
He has already apologised in a letter to the Liverpool Daily Post.
“I am sorry . . . for the hurt and dismay we have so evidently caused in our description of Liverpool,” he wrote.
“There may well be Liverpudlians who still answer to the characteristics in question, just as there are all over the country. We should not have generalised.
“I repeat that the leader made a serious point about risk and sentimentality and the culture of blame and I stick by it. In so far as it imposed an outdated stereotype on the whole of Liverpool and thereby caused offence, I sincerely apologise.”
But Liverpool councillor Joe Anderson, leader of the council’s Labour group, described the visit as “a gimmick”.
He said: “Boris Johnson is not welcome here after the publication of the article re-hashing all the old prejudiced stereotypical views of Liverpool’s citizens.
“It would be better for him to keep away at this time.”
