• Privacy policy
  • T&C’s
  • About Us
    • FAQ
    • Meet the Team
  • Contact us
  • Guest Content
TLE ONLINE SHOP!
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Opinion
    • Elevenses
  • Business
  • Food
  • Travel
  • Property
  • JOBS
  • All
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Sport
    • Tech/Auto
    • Lifestyle
      • Horoscopes
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Thunderball
      • Set For Life
      • EuroMillions
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
SUPPORT THE LONDON ECONOMIC
NEWSLETTER
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Opinion
    • Elevenses
  • Business
  • Food
  • Travel
  • Property
  • JOBS
  • All
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Sport
    • Tech/Auto
    • Lifestyle
      • Horoscopes
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Thunderball
      • Set For Life
      • EuroMillions
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
No Result
View All Result
Home Politics

Johnson: People should not be ‘bullied’ into ‘taking the knee’

The Prime Minister said he believes in ‘substance’ not ‘gestures’.

Jack Peat by Jack Peat
2020-07-03 11:15
in Politics
FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmailWhatsapp

People should not be “bullied” into “taking the knee” in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, Boris Johnson has said.

The Prime Minister indicated that he is not prepared to follow the example of Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer – who was photographed in the symbolic act of support – saying he believes in “substance” not “gestures”.

Speaking on an LBC radio phone-in, he expressed concern that some police officers had been pressurised into doing so during protests in London following the death of George Floyd in the United States.

“I don’t want people to be bullied into doing things they don’t necessarily want to do,” he said.

Queen and the missus

“If you think of what happened with those police officers standing at the Cenotaph, where they were being insulted in quite aggressive terms by some members of the crowd and told to take the knee.

“Some of them did and it was very difficult then for the others who didn’t. That’s my position.

“I think it is very, very important that you don’t do things that make life difficult or embarrassing.”

His comments came after Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab was criticised last month for saying he would only take the knee for “the Queen and the missus when I asked her to marry me”.

“I don’t believe in gestures”

Mr Johnson said he believed in practical action to tackle prejudice and discrimination, highlighting his record in promoting black police officers while London mayor.

RelatedPosts

Brits have realised far too late that Brexit was a mistake

WATCH: Just Stop Oil protesters arrested in Parliament Square

Britain’s future is ‘outside the EU’, says Starmer

Post Brexit trade deals: What are they good for?

“I don’t believe in gestures, I believe in substance. I believe in doing things that make a practical difference. Of course there are injustices that we need to rectify. There is prejudice out there. We need to fight it,” he said.

The Prime Minister also indicated that he wants to see more black people at the top of government.

He acknowledged that, while there are a number of a black and Asian minority ethnic ministers in the Government, there are just two in the Cabinet and neither is black.

“Of course we can do more and we will do more. We need to make progress and we will. I think about this a lot. It is something I want to get right. We need to reflect the country we serve,” he said.

Related: Boris Johnson, public schools and institutional racism

Content Protection by DMCA.com

Since you are here

Since you are here, we wanted to ask for your help.

Journalism in Britain is under threat. The government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and our media is run by a handful of billionaires, most of whom reside overseas and all of them have strong political allegiances and financial motivations.

Our mission is to hold the powerful to account. It is vital that free media is allowed to exist to expose hypocrisy, corruption, wrongdoing and abuse of power. But we can't do it without you.

If you can afford to contribute a small donation to the site it will help us to continue our work in the best interests of the public. We only ask you to donate what you can afford, with an option to cancel your subscription at any point.

To donate or subscribe to The London Economic, click here.

The TLE shop is also now open, with all profits going to supporting our work.

The shop can be found here.

You can also SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER .

Subscribe to our Newsletter

View our  Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions

Trending on TLE

  • All
  • trending

Elevenses: The Thing About Wrexham’s Cinderella Story

Elevenses: Exposing the Tories’ Deepfake Illegal Immigration Bill

Elevenses: Rishi’s Finest Hour

More from TLE

‘This is the route to privatisation’: Is the government intentionally steering the NHS to the brink of collapse?

UK reduces its oil imports by over 75 million barrels in five years

Polling suggests Johnson definitely did not win in the court of public opinion, contrary to Rees-Mogg’s remarks

Set For Life Results for Thursday 4 May 2023 Tonight’s winning numbers

Secret Cinema : Star Wars Party Preview!

Tongue in cheek reactions as Javid asks people to snog ‘cautiously’ at Xmas

Neil Coyle has Labour whip restored after suspension for drunken encounters

Video – Woman suffers rare condition which sees her joints dislocate 60 times a day

German players stage poignant One Love protest

Train staff tell passenger to pick up suspicious unattended bag and “hand it in”

About Us

TheLondonEconomic.com – Open, accessible and accountable news, sport, culture and lifestyle.

Read more

Contact

Editorial enquiries, please contact: [email protected]

Commercial enquiries, please contact: [email protected]

Address

The London Economic Newspaper Limited t/a TLE
Company number 09221879
International House,
24 Holborn Viaduct,
London EC1A 2BN,
United Kingdom

SUPPORT

We do not charge or put articles behind a paywall. If you can, please show your appreciation for our free content by donating whatever you think is fair to help keep TLE growing and support real, independent, investigative journalism.

DONATE & SUPPORT

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.




No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Lifestyle
  • Food
  • Travel
  • JOBS
  • More…
    • Elevenses
    • Opinion
    • Property
    • Tech & Auto
  • About Us
    • Meet the Team
    • Privacy policy
  • Contact us

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.