The journalist Tom McTague has written a piece about Boris Johnson for the magazine The Atlantic. It has the title: Minister of Chaos, Boris Johnson knows exactly what he’s doing. It has attracted quite a bit of comment. McTague has been in and out of Downing Street and followed the PM on various trips out so he can write a 'profile' of Johnson, to get inside him and explain what he is. He says he wanted to "understand whether Johnson was truly a populist, or just popular" and to discover what his appeal to the British public really is.
I am not sure he succeeds.
The essence of the article is in these two paragraphs - although you can read it yourself, there's no paywall:
"Whenever you talk to Johnson, you bump up against an all-encompassing belief that things will be fine. He believes, for example, that the threat of Scottish independence will melt away over time, with Brexit acting as a centripetal force pulling the U.K. back together.
"Yet Johnson understands the art of politics better than his critics and rivals do. He is right that his is a battle to write the national story, and that this requires offering people hope and agency, a sense of optimism and pride in place. He has shown that he is a master at finding the story voters want to hear."
He is a child of privilege and entitlement, one who never had to struggle or worry and was forgiven for every transgression. His mistakes have never had consequences or not serious ones anyway. He has somehow escaped condemnation for being a capricious liar, serial adulterer and manically untrustworthy. I would hazard a guess that when he leaves office he will still be liked by a good chunk of the population, no matter what happens. Will he leave behind a better, more united country? No.
He seems to think he can succeed where others have failed by creating a narrative, telling a story and making people 'feel good' about the country and by extension, themselves. As far as I can see he is working towards the opposite where it's OK to be openly racist and to revel in the murkier periods of Britain's past.
He is completely toxic in Scotland and when indyref2 comes round he will be a gift to the SNP - assuming he's still there to be of use to nationalists.
The profile adds 'colour' to Johnson's premiership as in a visit to a factory in Birmingham:
"Johnson was, as usual, unkempt and amused, a tornado of bonhomie in a country where politicians tend to be phlegmatic and self-serious, if not dour and awkward. Walking in, he had launched into a limerick about a man named Dan who likes to ride trams."
He treats the job as something for him to enjoy and indeed McTague says, "He is the first British leader I’ve seen who genuinely appears to be having a good time. His conversations with members of the public are peppered with 'That’s amazing!' and 'You’re joking!' and 'Wonderful!' and 'Fantastic, fantastic!'"
He is indeed a phenomenon and his opponents don't really understand how he can be so popular. But like all populists he is popular until he isn't.
Most people who have worked in British industry will have met a Boris Johnson. They appear as if by magic at the top of the tree, having been catapulted there by circumstance without having to do all the hard work that other, more deserving candidates have to. They know nothing about the market, the products or the company and are determined to learn nothing. But they seize the moment to issue stupid orders based on nothing more than blind faith, hope and ignorance.
He is like the Gerald Ratner of British politics, inheriting an anonymous mid-range entity, he proceeds to destroy it with a few ill-chosen words.
Johnson is where he is because people ran out of ideas. The Tory party saw him as a vote winner that they could use to hold on to power without going through the years of slowly and carefully building an education system and a democracy worthy of a G7 country. Voters were similarly convinced there is some mysterious missing piece of the puzzle that will turn the nation's fortunes around. It was ever thus.
Shareholders in companies which are clearly failing usually turn to these sort of charlatans. In industry, at least ones I'm familiar with, companies are either 'diversifying' into areas they have no knowledge or experience of, investing money from the core activity, or 'consolidating' by selling off the expensively purchased assets at bargain basement prices. Any newcomer simply needs to see where the company is in the cycle and reverse course. It's very easy. They then get a few years to see if the strategy is working - until they are dismissed and the next person comes in.
It's the British belief that you can be successful simply by 'wishing' and 'hoping' to be successful.
However, we may be reaching the moment when Johnson himself, perhaps for the first time in his life will be facing the consequences of his own reckless actions. The NI protocol is coming to a head.
This week leaders of the G7 are meeting in Cornwall with Merkel and Macron expected to corner the prime minister and tell him Lord Frost is the problem. The Irish have been working on Biden, who is already very sympathetic to Ireland, to put pressure on Johnson to implement the protocol and swallow all the difficulties.
This is the message from Maros Sefcovic:
Strong stuff from Sefcovic, who says Brussels “will not be shy in reacting swiftly, firmly & resolutely” if the UK takes more unilateral action. An EU figure said “you can say that again” when I put to them today that the mood didn’t seem great ahead of Wednesday’s JC meeting. https://t.co/0r2hGt6lsG
— Adam Payne (@adampayne26) June 7, 2021
Tomorrow's meeting of the EU-UK Joint Committee will be fascinating.
