Quote:
Originally Posted by Mick
I am sorry but I totally disagree, there is not a difference at all. Barack Obama interfered in our referendum because he was asked to by the Remain side, and he did not express an opinion, he made a direct threat which is totally different, it was totally out of order by the Remain camp to use, at the time the U.S President to threaten the UK people in to voting Remain or else.
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In may be out of order and against the convention that foreign leaders do not comment on the affairs of others but it is not the same for two main reasons:
- It was transparent. Everyone can see who is saying it, why and make their own judgements as to if it's approrate or not
- It's not illegal. It's not an attack on the country's security systems or media.
If Putin was to come out and tomorrow as say Boris Johnson is an idiot and you should vote Labour then that would not be a matter of national security.
---------- Post added at 20:25 ---------- Previous post was at 20:23 ----------
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mick
Again Damien, he didn't just make a public speech. He made a direct threat. I cannot believe you are fine with a leader of another country, allied or not, to come to our country and threaten the people in to voting a certain way or else. That is not and never is ok.
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I think the threat is rather weak 'you'll be at the back of the queue'. But I don't think foreign leaders should comment on the internal politics of their allies. It's bad form so I am not 'ok' with it.
However I do think it's a different kettle of fish to Russia doing all the things they do to the U.K such as cyber security attacks.
---------- Post added at 20:28 ---------- Previous post was at 20:25 ----------
Quote:
Originally Posted by nomadking
 So saying something publicly isn't trying to influence anything, but something or other, nobody knows what, and nobody can see any effect, is trying to influence. Which is likely to have changed voting intentions more?  |
Yes because voters can decide for themselves.
Boris Johnson making a speech saying Starmer is incompetent would be different to him, theoretically, organising a lot of fake stories from his time in the CPS calling him incompetent. And it CERTAINLY would be different to him hacking the Labour Party.
This are all worse things.