UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was among the familiar faces at the Queen’s Thanksgiving Service to mark the monarch’s Platinum Jubilee. Boris was instructed to read a New Testament verse based on integrity
The British Prime Minister, accompanied by his wife, Carrie Johnson, arrived at St Paul’s Cathedral. Today’s event ran its course which included the Prime Minister’s passage reading Philippians 2.
Boris read: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vanity, but with humility consider others better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.
The Prime Minister, the Right Honorable Boris Johnson, reads in Philippians 2: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vanity, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.#BoB80 pic.twitter.com/SGSzw1PyXx
— Westminster Abbey (@wabbey) September 20, 2020
As soon as the words spoken by Boris reached the outside, the audience was quick to react to the moment and take away the apparent irony.
One user wrote: “Please pass on our congratulations to whoever picked this reading for the PM. The irony did not escape us.
Please pass on our congratulations to whoever chose this PM reading😂
The irony did not escape us.— @elisled2 #FBPE #HopeDiesLast (@elisled2) June 4, 2022
Another wrote: “May the Lord give Boris the strength he needs to do such a difficult job.”
May the Lord give Boris the strength he needs to do such a difficult job. 🙏🙏
— Rosita Larkin (@rositalarkin) September 20, 2020
One user said “the hypocrisy is just too ironic to be a serious message.”
This must surely be the best trolling of @JustinWelby and @bishopSarahM hypocrisy is just too ironic to be a serious post.
— Socialist opera singer (@OperaSocialist) September 21, 2020
Another complimented the “wonderfully wicked sense of humour” of whoever decided to give Boris the run.
Someone with a wonderfully wicked sense of humor decided that this passage, Philippians 2, should be read by Johnson. 😏
—Isabel #FBPE #CorruptToriesOut💙#FBPA #JohnsonOut (@Catandq) September 20, 2020
Isn’t there something in the Bible about hypocrisy? this user wrote.
Isn’t there something in the Bible about hypocrisy…? 🤔
— Rachel ❤️🇺🇦🌻 Slava Ukraini (@rach0907) September 20, 2020
Here are some other reactions that were featured on Twitter.
Oh the irony of reading this to him…… pic.twitter.com/HlzAnJVwJp
— brewdog1950 (@brewdog1950) September 20, 2020
I think the fact that it didn’t catch fire is positive proof of the non-existence of God.
— Goldmartin (@goldmartin) September 20, 2020
I think it was a bad choice for such a person to read. Was it a joke?
—Carrie B (@cbtwittle) September 20, 2020
You made him read that to take the Micky?
Top trolling. pic.twitter.com/hJHhA5zjRG– Join now Tony Lockyear #FBPE #FBPR (@tony_lockyear) September 20, 2020
Boris had been criticized and received plenty of criticism for throwing parties at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Several photographs have also surfaced showing Boris enjoying a drink in a Downing Street pub around November 2020, when the rest of the country was under strict lockdown measures.
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