Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2019-12-23)

P O L I T I C S

40

Edited by

Jillian Goodman and

Rodney Jefferson

Can Boris Fill in

The Blank for the

U.K.’s Future?

Winning was the easy part for Johnson. To keep his promises,

he faces negotiation after negotiation with very limited time

In the weeks before the Dec. 12 election in the U.K.,

a team of consultants decided to test a question

with focus groups to try to understand the pub-

lic mood. In a number of marginal constituencies,

places where the election would be won or lost for

Boris Johnson’s Conservatives, participants were

given a version of Trump’s 2016 campaign slogan:

“Make Britain [What?] Again.” They were asked to

fill in the blank.

The answer that came back most frequently was

“normal.” Make Britain normal again.

Johnson’s resoundingly successful campaign

was driven by just these sorts of focus groups. His

slogan, “Get Brexit done,” perfectly captured the

popular despair with gridlock and division. The

result: The Conservatives have an 80-seat majority

in Parliament, giving him a legislative freedom nei-

ther he nor his predecessor, Theresa May, enjoyed