If I were up to my knees in foul- smelling water in my front room the very last thing I would want is a visit from Boris Johnson.
The sight of the PM wearing wellies, a sou’wester and a look of empathetic concern, gliding up the road in a kayak with a camera crew would, I suspect, push me right over the edge.
God knows what I’d say to a man who’d stared fellow flood victims in the face just three moths ago and promised to help, but did sod all.
To a politician whose party promised millions for better flood defences to save threatened towns and villages after the 2015 deluge but utterly failed them.
To a leader who vowed to “level up” hard hit Northern communities but hid in his Southern mansion as rising river levels drowned their homes and businesses and appeared not to give a damn.
I’d assume a BoJo visitation would heap agony on top of the already unbearable water torture. Yet the people of Wales, Worcestershire, Ross-on-Wye and communities across the UK DO want Boris Johnson to visit them.
They want to show him how their homes and lives are being ruined by this Ground Hog Day flood misery.
To ask why he hasn’t called a COBRA meeting to deal with this emergency after a fortnight of hell and more deluges imminent?
Why hasn’t he announced an urgent review of the Environment Agency’s defeatist “it’s just climate change” attitude?
Why hasn’t this year’s paltry £815million flood defence budget been massively increased?
Why do experts talk of “resilience” rather than “protection” saying we should build “floodable” houses, rather than defences that work?
Business minister Nadhim Zahawi says Boris is avoiding “a jamboree of media” to “concentrate on getting funding to people”.
Meaning the paltry £500 that flood hit households can apply for.
What a stinking insult. I wouldn’t give Boris the time of day but the flood victims deserve answers.
It’s time the PM got his wellies on.
