Politics

The obvious difference between Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn in two images

Jeremy Corbyn Boris Johnson

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Conservatives leader Boris Johnson on World Aids Day. (Twitter/The Andrew Marr Show)

What’s the difference between Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson? World AIDS Day gave us one possible answer to this question.

“This is World AIDS Day. I’m going to be wearing my red ribbon,” Boris Johnson said in a video message for World AIDS Day.

“Let’s all do so, and say to people and families affected by HIV and AIDS: You are not alone,” the prime minister added.

Unfortunately, he then appeared on The Andrew Marr show not wearing a red ribbon. Unfortunately for him, that is – because Gay Twitter obviously noticed.

In the video, Johnson said: “Hi folks, it’s World AIDS Day on December 1. It’s a chance for us to remember, and show our support for everyone affected by HIV and AIDS.

“It’s so important to take every opportunity to raise awareness, and to do more to fight the stigma.”

Not only did Johnson then go on national television not wearing a red ribbon, he also – like his American counterpart, Donald Trump – managed to film a one-minute-five-seconds video for World AIDS Day that failed to mention LGBT+ people.


According to the government’s own figures, men who have sex with other men are the group most affected by HIV in the UK, with one in 20 men who have sex with men in the UK living with HIV – a figure that rises to one in 12 in London. This compares to one in 667 people in the general population who are living with HIV.

This is, perhaps, an unsurprising move from a prime minister who only a week ago refused – again – to apologise for past comments he’d made calling gay men “tank-topped bum boys”.

It’s also unsurprising when you consider that the Tory election manifesto only mentions LGBT+ people three times – compared with manifestos from other parties that have entire sections dedicated to LGBT+ people.

Most notably, the Conservatives failed to commit to a full roll-out of HIV-preventing PrEP drugs, as backed by Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens in the 2019 general election.

In contrast, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn wore a red ribbon on 1 December while eating fish and chips in North Yorkshire.

Corbyn also retweeted the Labour party’s World AIDS Day tweet, saying Labour will “pledge to eradicate HIV transmissions in the UK by 2030 by rolling out PrEP nationwide”.

On World AIDS Day, these two images perfectly captured the difference between Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson.

 

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