20 5 august 2019as part of the prerogative powers of the Crown, but it wouldn’t
be popular to use such a device as leader of a minority govern-
ment on a controversial matter of such national importance.
and he might not even get the opportunity. last week the
Commons, by a majority of over forty, passed an amendment to
a bill relating to northern ireland, adding a clause requiring that
Parliament sit in september.
Boris is therefore in the unusual, and highly unfortunate,
position of finding himself boxed in by both his friends and
his enemies. His friends have managed to extract very strict,
unambiguous promises about delivering Brexit by Halloween.
His enemies have removed almost any way he can do this with
the support of Parliament.
Most Conservatives want Boris to succeed, and even some
of his tory opponents will give him a little time. But the clock is
ticking and he has put his neck on a very public block.
the obvious way to deal with a Parliament that won’t oblige
is to change it by calling a snap election. there is scarcely time
to do this before the october deadline, though it might be pos-
sible, if the writs were sent out in the next week or so. But many
tories consider such a gambit as suicidal. for a government
to throw itself on the mercy of the electorate to try to get the
power to deliver Brexit, while claiming that its inability to do so
is someone else’s fault, would invite inescapable derision and
contumely on itself.
nigel farage has a political party, or at least a very large
pressure group calling itself a party, which threatens to make
mincemeat of any tory who is not an ultra. farage’s Brexit Party
swept the Euro elections in May, and nearly won a parliamen-
tary by-election shortly afterwards. Wiser heads consider that
Boris will try to get the best deal he can before october, and will
delay calling an election till the middle of next year.
But there is no guarantee that he will last that long. He may
well become the shortest-serving prime minister of all time,
if the adverse circumstances surrounding him conspire even
slightly. He is sure to face a motion of no-confidence from the
leader of the labour Party, the increasingly isolated and inef-
fective Jeremy Corbyn, if not immediately, then in september.
at that point, Boris can only hope that more labour MPs defy
the whip than tories. and if he loses, an acting prime minister
might well be tempted to apply to the EU for yet another exten-
sion to article 50, and the whole rigmarole will begin again,
with more talk of cliff edges, crashing out, treachery and the
threat of civil disorder.
But Boris is a politician rather than an ideologue, so perhaps
we will see a tilt towards pragmatism. He needed one set of
people to get him into no 10, and they were duly recruited.
shortly he will need another, much larger set of people, to keep
him there. Cue a pivot to a softer line, more compatible with all
his rhetoric about uniting the nation. and cue accusations from
Brexit purists about betrayal.
Which brings us to the issue of trust. Boris remains unwill-
ing to be pinned down by anyone other than himself, and he
comes into office with a pile of unanswered questions behind
him. He has a long track record of avoiding interviews and dodg-
ing questions. Most recently, he refused to comment publicly
when a row with his girlfriend behind closed doors became a
national news story. What was it about? Who threw what at
whom? Why was his girlfriend shouting “leave me alone”?
answer came there none, for he has always held the line against
intrusion into his private life. twice divorced, and many times
paired up, we don’t even know how many children he has.
Perhaps he doesn’t either.
yet despite the prevarication, the ambiguity and the
polysyllabic classicisms, the tories adore him, and applaud him
to the rafters. Despite the infidelities and bed-hopping, the party
of family values forgives him endlessly.
Boris Johnson is the most charismatic politician of his
generation, but possibly the most unreliable too. He likes to
model himself on Churchill, but he seems as likely to serve up
a Gallipoli as a D-Day. He is, in the estimation of some, the very
embodiment of a ‘cake and eat it’ attitude, though recently he
has slimmed down by a noticeable amount. yet he remains a
political heavyweight, a fountain of energy and optimism who
cuts a very different figure from his lacklustre predecessor.
But which Boris will turn up to kiss the Queen’s hand?
the moderate, reassuring ex-Mayor of london—the uniter?
or the insouciant cynic, the arrogant provocateur—the
divider? Will it be healing balm and jokes, or more defiance
and Churchillian quantities of ‘blood, toil, tears and sweat’?
Will he be collegiate, and restore the cabinet government
which vanished under theresa May? or will he unleash
his inner trump and try to run the whole show himself,
while communing with his base via public media? Will he
knuckle down and deliver? nobody knows.
as it stands, the looming election is scheduled to be Corbyn
versus Johnson. to many this is scylla versus Charybdis. or
perhaps just mild-mannered laurel versus bumptious Hardy.
in the Ukraine, they have elected a professional comedian as
their leader, but we in Britain prefer to stick with amateurs.
oh Britannia—semper in excreta. nRoderick Matthews is an author and essayist based in London. His
books include Jinnah vs Gandhi and Mountbatten
and the Partition of British indiao pe n e s say
Despite the prevarication, the
ambiguity and the polysyllabic
classicisms, the TORIES adore him,
and applaud him to the rafters.
Despite the infidelities and bed-hopping,
the party of family values forgives
him endlessly