If one man’s dishonesty never much mattered in the past, when – or, indeed, why – would it begin to matter in the future?
The narrative of Boris Johnson’s rise and… well, let’s not say “fall” since there’s no evidence yet to suggest that there will be an imminent decline. So, perhaps “float” offers us a new and better cliché to run around. Johnson’s rise and ability to float is a hard lesson in what Peter Oborne recently described as the “narcissism that mocked the style of straightforward, sober, serious, self-effacing politics of the post-war era.” People bought into the Johnsonian fantasy and there is little to suggest that the fiction is growing any less attractive. The Tories maintain a lead in polls, the vaccine rollout produced not so much a bounce as sustained levitation, and people continue to love any tall tale that panders to their prejudices. Let’s all dress in luminous jackets and throw rugby balls whilst talking about going down the pub. What isn’t there to love?
