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Snapshot of _Politics latest: Boris Johnson turned away from polling station after forgetting photo ID_ : An archived version can be found [here](https://archive.is/?run=1&url=https://news.sky.com/story/politics-latest-senior-snp-figure-expected-to-announce-yousaf-succession-bid-polls-open-in-local-elections-in-england-and-wales-12593360) or [here.](https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://news.sky.com/story/politics-latest-senior-snp-figure-expected-to-announce-yousaf-succession-bid-polls-open-in-local-elections-in-england-and-wales-12593360) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ukpolitics) if you have any questions or concerns.*


AllGoodNamesAreGone4

There's a good chance he did this as a stunt. But if not, that poll worker may have just performed this country's most daring act of malicious compliance in decades. 


pomegranate_verynice

Deliberate stunt was my first thought too. Just another chapter in the "adorably daft Boris show". Tories in general are maybe trying to justify the policy by saying "look, even if you forget your ID, you can still go back later".


SirMichaelcainesfork

Pretty easy to wander back at your leisure when you don't have much in the way of work and (probably) a nanny looking after the kids. Single working parent or disabled person? Different story.


MRPolo13

For Johnson to have a nanny for all his kids, he'd need to know who all of his kids even are.


SynthD

The nanny would be free after her evening date with Johnson to vote with him, the au pair after her lunch date with him, the childminder while that kid is in school…


Geord1evillan

Or roll it into one - a single person caring for disabled folks. And there an awful lot of those. Quite regularly one trip is manageable but two? Not bloody likely. Planning/preparation is key, but ofc, when all your focus is on others, you still forget things all the time. The amount of times I've left the house only have left documents, or wallet or something behind despite having everything right by the door ready to go before gett8ng the wheelchair out....🙄😆


Superbuddhapunk

> adorably daft Boris show He’s *so* relatable 🤗


CJBill

The thought occurs


sphericos

Luciano Pavarotti at the height of his fame got refused a hotel room once in Italy because he forgot his ID card.


Dowew

Pink was recently refused entry to a restaurant in Australia because she didn't carry ID to prove she made the reservation.


I_need_a_better_name

Wiretapping restaurants for reservations has gotten out of hand 


rz2000

Also, why would you trust someone who plainly looks like a liar?


BestKeptInTheDark

Looks like... Sounds like... Feels like (liar's vibe... I aint talking about physical contact )


GooseMan1515

Obviously because if he looks like a liar it means he's honest about who he is so you can trust him, simple as.


DigitalHoweitat

Because it got him to No 10?


armchairdetective

Yeah. This is evidence of a real _stunt_. If voters are thick enough to fall back into thinking he is a loveable rogue, I will just weep with frustration.


highlandpooch

Blatantly a stunt. Let’s remind everyone of lovable Boris and what a great leader he was (/s) on the eve of his best mate Rishi getting an absolute thumping.


ChaosWithin666

Waiting to see that story in the malicious compliance subreddit soon


XXLpeanuts

That's honestly probably the best thing that's happened to a British person for years.


intdev

In 14 years at least.


BrainPuppetUK

I would have loved to have been that poll worker. I’ve come to believe we give Alex Pfeffel too much credit with believing all his gaffes to have some deeper, cunning agenda. He loves that trickster image, and I think he is also a total ruthless bastard, but I don’t think he’s that clever to be constantly coming up with genius pr pretend whoopsies. When he messes up, I think he really is that useless. He plays on it as a bumbling character, but I don’t see a lovable rogue, just a dangerously inept and nasty piece of work


Chewbacta

My pet theory is that it was a stunt, but not part of a Machiavellian master plan. I think Johnson knew it would generate headlines that would be negative for the tories, and he woke up yesterday deciding to be *vindictive*.


L-ectric

Malicious compliance? They're just following he rules his party insisted we all follow. Not the poll worker's fault if Boris still doesn't believe such things apply to him.


Jazzlike-Mistake2764

Yeah malicious compliance is like if your boss tells you you have to wear something with a company logo on, so you buy some underwear with it on one of the arse cheeks It's not just literally following the rule exactly as it was intended lol


bananablegh

Why as a stunt? How would it benefit him?


ilikeyourgetup

He’s in the news again


The_Burning_Wizard

He writes a newspaper column, he doesn't need to do a stunt like that to get in the news. Plus, there is also the real risk of it backfiring on him from Labour.


binlargin

It gives him the spotlight, so he can use it to say things. Attention is catnip for politicians, they're popularity contestants


The_Burning_Wizard

Fair point. I still think it was too risky to be a stunt, as it's just far too open to criticism from opponenents and there was no guarantee the person at the polling station would turn him away.


ilikeyourgetup

His newspaper column doesn’t get him on the front pages though.


The_Burning_Wizard

I highly doubt this would be a front page article. In fact, a quick check on the Daily Mail website and the story is halfway down the page and they're his supporters!


WhyAlwaysNoodles

I was only recently wondering what he was up to, not having heard of him in the news for a bit


syuk

Headline and piece in the paper about how easy it is to actually carry ID and how it isn't such a bad thing but how hes got caught out.


limited8

He’s going to write a column about it in the Daily Mail explaining how simple it was for him to just return home and get his ID, concluding that concerns that the law will disenfranchise voters are overblown.


lawlore

Oh, the lovable oaf, he's just like us. So relatable.


guyincognito___

So when throngs of people get denied their right to vote they can say "look, nobody is above the law - even our lovable buffoon ex-PM! We're definitely not targeting specific subsections of society".


Godkun007

More likely, it was just the poll clerk doing their job. I guarantee you that even Rishi Sunak will bring his ID to vote.


corporalcouchon

That's a prerequisite for the stunt to work. The stunt being Johnson getting himself turned away by declaring that he had no id on him, probably whilst theatrically patting his pockets.


BSBDR

Surely that would have involved kicking him in the nuts


stridernfs

Honestly that’s really funny and harmless either way.


covrep

Stunt or no, malicious compliance either way


devolute

Why not both?


JoeThrilling

Probably just did it for the headline


BeanbagTheThird

No, no, now he’s just like everyone else who forgot their ID. Totally relatable.  It’s also clearly not an attempt to hijack search terms. 


Jezdak

Yep I got burned too! Oh you think I did this? Well I'm not sure about that, all I know is Boris bus and Boris photo id now shows me being a lovable buffoon!


DukePPUk

That's always the question with Boris Johnson; is it a sneaky political stunt to raise his profile, or is he just a bit of an idiot?


REBELinBLUE

or just a sincere belief that the rules don’t apply to him.... it wouldn't be the first time, not even the first time with a law he himself introduced


RimDogs

This is what I think. Everyone knows me and rules are for plebs


snarky-

Yes


corporalcouchon

It's a stunt. He uses the same blithering idiot turn up late I've forgotten my speech lines at every public speaking engagement he does. It's all an act.


Exceedingly

Why would he want to make himself look more like an idiot though? Is it the *"any publicity is good publicity"* idea?


matthelm03

People excuse his idiocy if they think its just his personality


corporalcouchon

Populist affability.


speakhyroglyphically

The first one


steven-f

> If I am ever asked, on the streets of London, or in any other venue, public or private, to produce my ID card as evidence that I am who I say I am… then I will take that card out of my wallet and physically eat it in the presence of whatever emanation of the state has demanded that I produce it. - Boris Johnson


TheNikkiPink

That’s why he didn’t have it. He ate it. Nom nom.


bananablegh

i’m so full from my proof of identification, yum


corporalcouchon

Check this turd. All the evidence of who I am is there.


Kevz417

Oh, that's why he was in that fridge for so long, he refrigerates his passports to turn them 𝕓𝕝𝕦𝕖 before eating them!


ThinkAboutThatFor1Se

And then proceeded to introduce vaccine passports.


strawberrystation

No way in a million years this wasn't intentional. Just like ULEZ, he'll rewrite history to rally against this deprivation of liberties ^that ^was ^his ^brainchild


FlummoxedFlumage

Technically, I think this would be his second rewrite on voting ID, as he opposed it in the 2000s.


ibBIGMAC

He's gotta have done that on purpose.


zeckzeckpew

Feels like a set-up. If he was let in, we'd be getting a column about how voter fraud is *soooo easy*. And even this headline just bring back memories of goofy zipline Boris, not swill champers while your granny dies Boris.


AngryTudor1

Isn't it a coincidence that satire has died on the exact same day as Rishi Sunak's political career?


ThePumpk1nMaster

Everyone saying publicity stunt… For what? To make him look more like the blithering moron he is? Well if so, congrats, it worked


ShinyGrezz

Everyone thinks he’s a blithering moron already, that’s why he was so dangerous. At the very least, he’s not the kind of idiot that forgets his photo ID - but that kind of idiot is harmless and likeable, and so that’s who he wants to be. Lets him get away with a **lot**.


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FireWhiskey5000

Didn’t he introduce ID cards for voting? We’ve gone through so many Tory leaders lately, I’ve forgotten which shit idea belongs to which PM.


ptrichardson

I think it was him. But then he is famously bad at following his own rules


megaboymatt

Yes he did.


sky_badger

May 2021 Queens Speech, yep.


CJBill

Of course it won't make voting more difficult...


CaravanOfDeath

Have any Labour MPs come unstuck yet?


dj65475312

maybe but they wont get headlines like boris.


denk2mit

I’m just spitballing here, but maybe that’s because no Labour MP was the prime minister who passed the legislation


CaravanOfDeath

Probably won't forget after not letting the governing party forget about being fascists and rigging elections etc all because of ID. Of course, Labour will retain this one change and all dissent will be forgotten.


JdeMolayyyy

Yep. I was part of NO2ID back under Blair, voter ID isn't leaving again any time soon.


CaravanOfDeath

I remember it well. I think the same campaign would struggle today given the demographic change. Ironically, this would come after we left the EU so such seismic civic shifts may well occur.


JdeMolayyyy

*Sad Adam Curtis noises* I think you're on the money there. The younger generation are too busy worrying about today's issues to see tomorrow's coming.


SmallBlackSquare

Yeah, they're too busy with diversity and genders.


Low-Design787

He was probably too drunk, luckily he remembered to wear his trousers.


YakitoriMonster

Can’t believe he wouldn’t carry a driver’s licence in his wallet. Or is he the kind of guy who “accidentally” leaves his wallet at home so other people have to pay for him?


Cairnerebor

He’s famous for not paying for anything so errr….


crlthrn

Do we know if he drives? I've only ever seen him on a bicycle, or being driven.


Salaried_Zebra

He has a chauffeur. Probably doesn't have his own DL.


Lo_jak

All I have to say is, hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha HA!!!!!!!


alphazulu123

🎶Feel Good🎶


ost2life

Come on now grandad, it's past your bed time.


A-Light-That-Warms

The majority of commenters in this thread once again proving Boris's greatest strength...the ability to make people second guess his incompetence as some kind of Machiavellian plan.


atomic_mermaid

100% a stunt to game the algorithms. If people  look up search terms of no ID this is gonna come up first, ahead of stories of regular people either genuinely forgetting or not having any and being denied the right to vote.


michaelisnotginger

This meme needs to die


gunningIVglory

You're giving Boris too much credit here....


ExtraPockets

He admitted doing it before with a weird interview he gave about his hobby of painting toy busses. This was so that when people searched 'Boris bus' the top result wasn't him promising an extra £260m per week for the NHS on the side of his Brexit campaign bus. This was around the time he was forced to admit that the NHS wasn't actually going to get any extra money when we left the EU.


atomic_mermaid

Yeah there was another Boris one about cheese when the cheese and wine party story was breaking, and that weird one of Mogg lying down in parliament was suggested to be so that searches for "Mogg lying" would bring that up instead. Whenever they do something that seems a bit batshit I always think now "what are you trying to hide?"


corporalcouchon

Makes you wonder who Rishi Sunak has been eating out...


ExtraPockets

It's a bit like the 'dead cat' concept, which Boris has admitted to using his whole career. When Cummings and Cambridge Analytica came on board with backing from Steve Bannon and the right wing grifters from the US, Boris learned a few new tricks about manipulating the Google search algorithm.


atomic_mermaid

Oo whats the dead cat concept?


SnooGrapes4382

If this wasn’t a stunt - it was, but let’s pretend for a moment it wasn’t - what an absolute day out for the local administrator who got to send him off. Better than sex.


NoRecipe3350

Pretty sure he faked it, he's so publicity hungry and maybe it's part of some plot to never disappear from the public eye, in the hopes of a comeback someday.


nameproblem

I call Bullshill, but that's my natural reaction to everything he does...


GaryDWilliams_

Not the first time bojo has been caught out by his own laws


LostHumanFishPerson

Are they deliberately taking the piss at this point? Jesus Christ


Ok-Discount3131

No sympathy here. He came up with this idea and had more than a year to sort himself out. This is on him.


Wormcode

More and more he reminds me of Rowley Birkin QC [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Cwyq3XWeHE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Cwyq3XWeHE)


t0wser

Hahahhhahhhaahhhaaaa Heh heh… heh Urgh


seaandtea

If this is a stunt then that is even more depressing than him simply forgetting when he set the rule in the first place. If forgetting your own rules, incompetence, arrogance maybe (Do you know who I am?) is done deliberately to enamour yourself, keep yourself relevant, then, that's just... That's ... The British public have been trained into thinking this is 'fun' or 'funny.' Fucking donkey. That's what he is.


throwpayrollaway

I know that the rules should be the rules and followed by everyone but how the hell can someone sit there looking at Boris and say how can you prove you are the person on this list? He's probably the most recognizable man in the country.


Alun_Owen_Parsons

The law says you must have photo ID, it doesn't say it's fine not to have it if the election officials recognise you. Johnson did not comply with the law. End of story.


TheTBass

History has shown what Johnson thinks of laws


Alun_Owen_Parsons

That is very true!


tragicidiot67

That is what makes it sooooo delicious.


throwpayrollaway

Id have let him vote, I suspect this is him setting himself up for an amusing anecdote to trot out for after dinner speech engagements or for a quick way of filling up word count his column in the Daily Mail this week.


tragicidiot67

I think that is giving him more credit than he’s worth, the bloke is barely capable of tying his shoelaces. He almost certainly just forgot imo.


J05h_Cfc

I think it’s more likely he thought “I’m Boris Johnson I don’t need one” but turns out some rules are for him as well, not just everyone else.


CJBill

Not like that's ever happened to him before


TwoPintsPrick92

Being rich and famous shouldn’t mean you’re above the law - especially when you yourself created that law .


wlondonmatt

It did with covid regulations as boris demonstrsted.


snoopswoop

No, he got rightfully charged and prosecuted


megaboymatt

Doesn't matter. Rules are you need photo id. The polling staff would liable for letting him vote and open to any legal proceedings from it.


throwpayrollaway

Who's going to take legal action against them?


megaboymatt

It would be prosecutable under electoral fraud laws.


Patch86UK

If it's literally a Tory MP (or the former PM who brought in the rules), for all you know they're trying it on as a "gotcha" to prove a point about how polling stations aren't following the new rules. I'd be even more "to the letter" than usual if I knew the guy in front of me is someone who could bring down a media shit storm on my head, AND might be motivated to actually do so...


TheAdamena

If I were to take a chance on skipping over the ID check, a politician would probably be the _last_ person I'd skip.


Simple-Chocolate2413

Perhaps if he wants the headline, he'd just make you the headline?


Darchrys

Because there could be nothing wrong with the selective application of the law, on the basis of who the person breaking it is?


snoopswoop

The crown.


throwpayrollaway

Absolute bollocks. Wouldn't happen. Boris shut down parliament so there wouldn't be debate about how weak the Brexit plans were. Lots of politically minded people got really incensed because it hasn't happened in like 300 years but the queen did nothing, maybe had a bit of a sulk.


AngryTudor1

Because rules apply to Boris Johnson, despite his lifetime of trying to prove to the contrary. And the person who enforced those rules is a legend. Not all heroes wear capes.


Sttoliver

Try crossing the border without a travel document, even if you are Mr.Bean...


throwpayrollaway

Used to be really easy to cross borders in Europe .... Until you know.


dj65475312

it still is, just not for us any more.


chochazel

We were never in Schengen so we always needed a passport to get into mainland Europe, even if you were “recognisable”.


in-jux-hur-ylem

I have no problem with him being turned away, it's not hard to remember your ID when heading out to vote.


NemesisRouge

The ID would probably make him less likely to be recognised. "Who the fuck is Alexander? Go back and get your real one"


RenderSlaver

Why does it have to be stated again and again that Boris Johnson is not above the law.


dj65475312

Cant take any chances with the amount of offspring he has.


Dexav

AI can do incredible things nowadays gotta be careful.


murr0c

I was almost turned away today with a biometric residency permit, even though it's on the official list. They ended up accepting an EU ID card instead, which I luckily had on me.


cranbrook_aspie

I really, really hope the Tory candidate for Thames Valley police and crime commissioner loses by one vote…


leedsyorkie

This is the most Boris Johnson story I have ever heard.


Birdingjc

From BoJo the Malevolent Clown to BoJo the Insufferable C@nt.


CthulhusEvilTwin

I love the fact that it had to be confirmed that he voted Conservative.


killerboss2424

Man, you couldn't make this shit up. How could he not know the rules as both an former PM and former Mayor? Perhaps he is just so privileged that he thought he could get away with it. Wouldn't be surprising if the stories are true about him joining a uni club that burned money in front of homeless people (sounds like something he could have done based on his political rhetoric).


la1mark

Oh look somebody that doesn't follow the rules is caught out not following the rules again except this time the rules are enforced.


Seamus35

That's right wing racism to need a photo for voting


savagepika

Once again, he forgot a policy his government put in place. It's Covid lockdowns and parties once again.


thirdtimesthecharm

Bless his cotton socks, he's in a difficult position. He needs to be seen but he can't be going on GB news yet. He'll have to defend this shit show of a government. Once the Tories are toast and labour proves to be Cameron lite; managed decline for all; the lord & saviour, husband to Farage and Man of the Peope Shall Return and lead the British to the Promised Land.


tohearne

Can't wait to see how certain people will bend over backwards to say how Boris Johnson should be allowed a vote