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| Boris has tested his audience for too long. It’s time to exit stage right | Boris has tested his audience for too long. It’s time to exit stage right |
| (21 days later) | |
| The burning question was: would the news of Boris Johnson’s divorce/infidelities ruin his chances of becoming prime minister? After all the political scheming, brazen lying, self-serving ambition and outright incompetence, would it be his personal troubles (affairs, grotty treatment of women and everyone around him) that finally brought him down? The answer was no… but also, confusingly, yes. | The burning question was: would the news of Boris Johnson’s divorce/infidelities ruin his chances of becoming prime minister? After all the political scheming, brazen lying, self-serving ambition and outright incompetence, would it be his personal troubles (affairs, grotty treatment of women and everyone around him) that finally brought him down? The answer was no… but also, confusingly, yes. |
| A Survation poll for the Daily Mail, the first since the divorce announcement, suggested that infidelity, people thought, didn’t make Johnson unfit to be PM. However, 30% of all voters would be less likely to vote Conservative if Johnson were leader, against 21% who would vote for him – indicating that it would be harder for the Conservatives to win the next election with Johnson as leader. | A Survation poll for the Daily Mail, the first since the divorce announcement, suggested that infidelity, people thought, didn’t make Johnson unfit to be PM. However, 30% of all voters would be less likely to vote Conservative if Johnson were leader, against 21% who would vote for him – indicating that it would be harder for the Conservatives to win the next election with Johnson as leader. |
| This would appear to demolish the (rather grandiose) narrative from the Johnson camp – of him as a flawed, all-too-human but still-popular populist, nobly committed to leading the Tory party to glory, despite spiteful (and puritanical) efforts to exploit his personal issues. In truth, people aren’t bothered about the infidelity (at least not in the obvious way), but they still don’t want him as PM. In other words, Johnson’s troubles didn’t bury his chances, they merely inadvertently revealed (almost in passing) that they were already buried. As Johnson has been more than happy to roar in different circumstances – you can’t ignore the will of the people. | This would appear to demolish the (rather grandiose) narrative from the Johnson camp – of him as a flawed, all-too-human but still-popular populist, nobly committed to leading the Tory party to glory, despite spiteful (and puritanical) efforts to exploit his personal issues. In truth, people aren’t bothered about the infidelity (at least not in the obvious way), but they still don’t want him as PM. In other words, Johnson’s troubles didn’t bury his chances, they merely inadvertently revealed (almost in passing) that they were already buried. As Johnson has been more than happy to roar in different circumstances – you can’t ignore the will of the people. |
| It would be nice to make this a “learning experience”. For example, the Tories have to stop behaving like a football manager, desperately clinging to the only player that fans have half heard of. Those polls weren’t a triumph for Theresa May – they are a sign that the Tories have failed to nurture fresh talent, allowing huge, rabid egos, like Johnson’s, to dominate for too long. | It would be nice to make this a “learning experience”. For example, the Tories have to stop behaving like a football manager, desperately clinging to the only player that fans have half heard of. Those polls weren’t a triumph for Theresa May – they are a sign that the Tories have failed to nurture fresh talent, allowing huge, rabid egos, like Johnson’s, to dominate for too long. |
| Johnson should have the grace to accept that he’s had a great run. Far from having his “ambitions thwarted”, he’s been spoiled rotten with chances – including high-profile spells as London mayor (hopeless) and foreign secretary (ditto). What Johnson failed to realise was that these weren’t mere stepping stones, or annoying obstacles, before becoming PM, these were crucial auditions he needed to pass, to prove himself, not just to his Westminster cronies but to the nation. If he blew it by constantly going for gold in what came across as a nonstop Mendacity Olympics, then, frankly, diddums. | Johnson should have the grace to accept that he’s had a great run. Far from having his “ambitions thwarted”, he’s been spoiled rotten with chances – including high-profile spells as London mayor (hopeless) and foreign secretary (ditto). What Johnson failed to realise was that these weren’t mere stepping stones, or annoying obstacles, before becoming PM, these were crucial auditions he needed to pass, to prove himself, not just to his Westminster cronies but to the nation. If he blew it by constantly going for gold in what came across as a nonstop Mendacity Olympics, then, frankly, diddums. |
| In this way, Johnson’s personal troubles are relevant – reminding everyone of his fatal flaw. That over the years he has proved himself to be a born user, to whom integrity remains a stranger – the kind of individual who has never made a promise (to anyone, about anything) he wasn’t happy to break. | In this way, Johnson’s personal troubles are relevant – reminding everyone of his fatal flaw. That over the years he has proved himself to be a born user, to whom integrity remains a stranger – the kind of individual who has never made a promise (to anyone, about anything) he wasn’t happy to break. |
| Not surprisingly, nobody wants to make that guy prime minister. To paraphrase Shakespeare, ultimately it’s a case of: “Alas, poor Boris, we knew you too well.” | Not surprisingly, nobody wants to make that guy prime minister. To paraphrase Shakespeare, ultimately it’s a case of: “Alas, poor Boris, we knew you too well.” |
| • Barbara Ellen is an Observer columnist | • Barbara Ellen is an Observer columnist |
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