A Boris apology
UK MP Boris Johnson offended the Papua New Guniea Government when he wrote:
“For 10 years we in the Tory Party have become used to Papua New Guinea-style orgies of cannibalism and chief-killing, and so it is with a happy amazement that we watch as the madness engulfs the Labour Party.”
His apology is a classic:
I would like to thank the High Commissioner very much for her clarification.
I meant no insult to the people of Papua New Guinea who I’m sure lead lives of blameless bourgeois domesticity in common with the rest of us.
My remarks were inspired by a Time Life book I have which does indeed show relatively recent photos of Papua New Guinean tribes engaged in warfare, and I’m fairly certain that cannibalism was involved.
It seemed a perfectly fair, florid, flowery metaphor for what’s going on in the Labour Party.
I’d be happy to show the book to the High Commissioner but I’m of course also very happy to take up her kind invite and add Papua New Guinea to my global itinerary of apology.