How Might History Remember Boris Johnson?
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is a unique entity. He is known globally not always for his politics but for his cartoon personality. He has carefully presented himself as an absurd caricature of an Englishman with the erudite charm of Oscar Wilde and the social awareness of Oscar Pistorius. Through the Coronavirus crisis, Johnson has bemusedly fumbled through his responsibilities like Hugh Grant in air traffic control. His failings have been well exhibited for decades, however all too often he manages to dodge any consequences.
In fifty years, will he be the ‘war-time’ prime minister who guided us through crisis or might the shame of ten years of austerity be brought to justice with the disgrace of one of its greatest protagonists.
No other politician in British history has been referred to quite so ubiquitously by their first name. ‘Boris’ promotes a relatable personality to the public. This from a man who attended a £17,000 a term prep school, Eton College and Oxford University. We’ve seen the development of this persona on many occasions over the years. He was famously left dangling off a zip-line waving union jacks, a cock-up that would have ruined the career of most politicians. Similarly, four years before Johnson looked characteristically dishevelled in Beijing whilst waving the Olympic flag. On the world’s biggest stage, Johnson was happy to be mocked and laughed at.
This façade has allowed Johnson to disguise his deeply aristocratic, neoliberal agenda. He once gave an interview saying he painted crates to look like buses in his spare time. Whilst many were charmed by this, its wide reporting had the effect of changing Google search results for ‘Boris Johnson bus’ away from the giant red Vote Leave lie-mobile.
He continued to dodge accountability on the front benches. Whilst in office as foreign secretary, Johnson compared Muslim women in burqas to ‘letterboxes and bank robbers’. He was also recorded in Myanmar muttering the lyrics to a colonialist poem, only to be eventually told by the ambassador that this was inappropriate whilst in a former colony.
Each time he creates liabilities for himself, his caricature is there to save him.
Johnson has compiled a prodigious repertoire of bullshit. He was sacked from The Times for fabricating a quote. His editor labelled him “the worst employee we ever had”. Johnson’s indifference to reality continues during the coronavirus crisis. In the space of a month, Johnson missed five Cobra meetings, went on holiday and retreated to his country manor, all whilst ignoring the evidence piled under his nose. If you miss one Universal Credit meeting, your benefits get cut. If you miss five Cobra meetings, you can patronise a whole country by telling them to protect the NHS as you continually exploit it for profit.
Even a trip to ICU did not pause his assault on reality. The day after the UK death toll became the highest in Europe, Johnson announced that the UK could start to lift restrictions within a week. He would not allow journalists to question him, instead opting for cherry picked, pre-recorded questions from the public.
Johnson is so busy concerning himself with his legacy, he is forgetting that his actions through this crisis are shaping it in front of his eyes. He could barely contain his glee during his two addresses to the nation. Within thirty seconds, he was on the defensive saying “no health service in the world could cope without a national effort”. This is certainly true if any country were subject to a bragging Boris saying he shakes hands with the infected. Johnson is using the public sense of ownership over the NHS to shift blame away from Tory underfunding.
Ninety seconds in, he clearly stifled a laugh as he said “though huge numbers are complying, and I thank you all.” This from a man who attended a Six Nations match 5 days after a Cobra meeting warning him that half a million Brits could die if no action was taken.
If you were to ask Johnson how he would be remembered, it wouldn’t take long before he weaved “beaches” and “fight” into his answer. Johnson has proclaimed his admiration for Winston Churchill loudly and publicly. His own autobiography ‘The Churchill Factor’ was summarised by one reviewer as ‘an autobiography of Boris Johnson by Boris Johnson for the promotion of Boris Johnson’. Tim Stanley, wrote for the Daily Telegraph exclaiming; “It’s time critics saw Boris for the Churchillian figure he is.” This in response to Johnson’s commons tantrum that he would not negotiate a further Brexit extension, which he did 9 days later.
Before Churchill’s wartime reverence, he had many critics even amongst his friends. Churchill joined the Tory imperialists fighting the India bill in the 30’s. However, Lord Selborne amongst their number said; “Winston has no convictions; he has only joined us for what he can get out of it.” Inspiring tactics for a man who wrote pro-leave and pro-remain columns in the lead up to the referendum. A fellow former editor of the right wing magazine ‘The Spectator’ said of Johnson; “he was never in favour of Brexit, until he found it necessary to further his leadership ambitions.” Churchill had many flaws but he was never called a charlatan by colleagues and opponents alike.
Johnson is fundamentally unable to be serious about anything. It’s hard to think of anyone worse suited to instil confidence. It’s come to the point where I agree with Piers Morgan at a genuinely nauseating frequency. Johnson has waited his whole life for his “we will fight them on the beaches” moment yet has still managed to barely hide his smugness.
His response to the biggest challenge of his career has been a poorly disguised preference for social cleansing. He held off lockdown to save the economy and is attempting to reopen after the first wave of catastrophe to minimise the inevitable recession and its impact on the buffer of billionaires.
It is no coincidence that the two nations worst affected by COVID-19 are run by two populists who have spent their terms slashing ties with neighbours and multi-national institutions. Two self-styled strong men whose mantras of control acted only to dismantle trust in the state and instil it solely in the leader.
The confusing messaging was not an oversight, it was carefully calculated. One that shifts blame from the government to the public, just as Johnson did in his national addresses. Those that can’t work from home now must risk their lives and those that can’t get there in a car are to blame. Those that forced them to choose between returning to work and missing the bread line will sit comfortably in virtual board rooms and clap at 8pm as the cameras roll.
Localised authorities are fracturing away from government confusion, unions are rejecting Johnsons blind promises and employers are faced with bankruptcy or mass redundancy when state furlough contributions are reduced to 60%. Mass unemployment is inevitable. This would have been avoided if it was not the working class who would take the brunt of the blow.
Johnson let us know exactly what he thinks of the working classes now dying in their thousands back in 1995. He said, “if he is blue collar, he is likely to be drunk, criminal, aimless, feckless and hopeless, and perhaps claiming to suffer from low self-esteem brought on by unemployment.” When history looks back on this Prime Minister, will we still be laughing along with him?