Boris Johnson

The date is 7th April 2020, and our Prime Minister is in Intensive Care.

I am active in fairly leftist circles, I call socialists friends and know people who would prefer communism. Naturally, a majority of my disabled friends are left-leaning: especially in America where they live in debt just because they were born sick.

It’s easy to joke about eating the rich, killing Musk, hating the tories.

But something doesn’t sit right with me when coming across people wishing someone dead for their political leanings. Boris Johnson does not represent me or my values. He has been sexist, racist, and heads a party that focuses more on the financial burden of being sick- not the persons welfare. I am not a fan of this man. But he doesn’t deserve what is being said about him while very ill.

Please think of his children, his pregnant fiancée, friends and family.
Please recognise him as a flawed human, rather than the head of the conservative beast. He is one man, not the whole ideology.

What follows is a Facebook post I have written in response to the lists of heinous Tory policies, things that have been said by Johnson, and criticism of his life- political and otherwise.

The beauty of our NHS is how staff will treat everyone with equal respect- labour or conservative, prisoner or pregnant, murderers and their victims. Let’s follow their example.

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I want to address all the posts telling us not to wish Boris Johnson the best, because he and his party have done abhorrent things.

As a (Scottish nationalist) disabled working class student who receives benefits, I am well aware of the damage the Tories have done, and I am the first person to criticise them.

Over the past year I have spent over three months as an inpatient in various hospitals. My mother is a proud NHS nurse and our hospitals try their very best after years of critical underfunding. Our hospitals are leaking, the ceiling tiles are exposed, equipment fails. My feed and treatment is expensive, and I would never afford treatment if I had to pay for some of it myself.

Politics is an important part of people: our beliefs are enshrined in who we vote for. But I will remind you that once the competition of election time is over politicians have to work together. Cross-party meetings and decisions are made even if you watch them arguing in the commons on TV. Labour MPs are friends with Tory MPs. Politicians believe they are doing what is best for the country, even if that doesn’t match what you or I think is best for the country.

I see many Tory policies, and the people who vote for such policies, as despicable. I am affected by many Tory policies, and as a law student I read legislation daily. I don’t agree with a lot of it - in fact I personally want an independent Scotland, with our own complete legal system.

Yes, Some Tories believe that disabled people are a burden, have been caught out saying that we do not deserve minimum wage. They clap when they block an NHS payrise, vote in favour of war, unfair taxes, austerity, inhumane fit-for-work assessments, hiring private companies to assess disability status. I am affected by all of this, I detest them for this.

But we have to prove we are better than them. Saying we don’t care if Johnson dies makes us as bad as them. This is not a time to revel in. Maybe he didn’t sing happy birthday when washing his hands, haha, yes. But Ventilator treatment is being reserved for the very sick. He is very sick, with an illness nobody deserves.

If he comes out of this, he will come out with more humanity. It will not be a staged televised visit to an NHS hospital to walk with nurses he will never be treated by. He will see the brilliant service offered by our brave nurses and doctors, domestic and volunteer staff first hand. They will save his life.

He will see why they deserve the pay rise his party blocked. He will see why our hospitals need more money. He will realise the herd immunity plan was wrong and has cost lives. That he should have listened to the WHO and the EU. He will appreciate things he has never had to before. It will not be an empty “thank you, nhs”. It will have meaning. He will owe his life to them, recognise his privilege, and, potentially, change.

We have to hope for the best to see this happen. Wishing the worst just tarnishes our side of the political spectrum, and encourages division. We want the best for everyone- and that includes those who oppose us.

Cheers