Ignoring the "By 'press' BoJo meant something else than the contextually obvious meaning of 'press'" argument for a moment: it's actually quite likely that he didn't notice the press around him. Don't forget - this is the guy that excused himself out of an interview, entered a walk-in fridge, and closed the door behind him. It's also the guy who grabbed someone's phone and put it in his pocket because he didn't want to address the picture he was being shown on said phone. Politics aside, his awareness of his own surroundings is clearly not always all there.
A lot of that is true. But it's also true that Boris is a serial liar who wouldn't know the truth if it smacked him round the chops.
So the idea that he was just lying is plausible. Because that's what he does. Him and Trump have that in common.
They don't lie in the same way other politicians lie, by twisting and misrepresenting facts. They will literally tell you it's sunny while holding an umbrella to shield them from the raging storm.
This from his ex-boss:
I have known Johnson since the 1980s, when I edited the Daily Telegraph and he was our flamboyant Brussels correspondent. I have argued for a decade that, while he is a brilliant entertainer who made a popular maître d’ for London as its mayor, he is unfit for national office, because it seems he cares for no interest save his own fame and gratification.
We can’t predict what a Johnson government will do, because its prospective leader has not got around to thinking about this. But his premiership will almost certainly reveal a contempt for rules, precedent, order and stability.
Johnson would not recognise truth, whether about his private or political life, if confronted by it in an identity parade. In a commonplace book the other day, I came across an observation made in 1750 by a contemporary savant, Bishop Berkeley: “It is impossible that a man who is false to his friends and neighbours should be true to the public.” Almost the only people who think Johnson a nice guy are those who do not know him.
I have a hunch that Johnson will come to regret securing the prize for which he has struggled so long, because the experience of the premiership will lay bare his absolute unfitness for it.
That was all written before Johnson assumed the roll of PM.
Partygate and the Pincher thing both followed the same story arc. As every lie was uncovered it was just replaced by the next layer of lies.
First he wasn't aware of any allegation against Pincher.
Then it was he wasn't aware of any
specific allegation against Pincher.
And finally it was he simply forgot that he'd been briefed about it.
He's not just another bad politician, he's rotten to the core and good riddance.
There are lots of similarities between him and Trump but there are differences too. Boris is much smarter and knowing. His good old bumbling Boris thing is a persona.
I don't think what Trump does is a persona, he's not smart enough to create one. I reckon it's just how he is.