It’s time for Boris to go

People are worried. The more sophisticated wonder how we will navigate between the twin perils of inflation and low growth, fearing that we might crash into both rocks. Those who do not talk like economists fret about the forthcoming squeeze on their living standards. Almost everyone is alarmed about immigration. At present, we are keeping out the workers we need and doing nothing to bar our shores from bogus asylum seekers, some of whom will turn out to be criminals. Equally, a lot of sensible people cannot understand why Boris Johnson’s Government seems to acquiesce when its environmental policy is captured by a children’s crusade. Capture also applies to public spending. Ministers seem happy to throw money at problems. But are they sure that the new cash will be spent wisely? Morality of purpose is no excuse for incompetence in delivery. Waste is no more acceptable in a hospital than in a hedge fund.

The problems are by no means confined to the home front. In peacetime, the world has rarely been more dangerous. Mr Putin is playing a weak hand skilfully. President Xi’s hand seems to strengthen daily. Turkey and the Middle East are full of threats. In the West, the US has a President who makes Jimmy Carter look like Theodore Roosevelt. Germany does not have a government. EU foreign policy is as much an oxymoron as ever. As for the UK: not that long ago, when Douglas Hurd was Foreign Secretary, he could quietly boast that we were good at punching above our weight, knowing that this would carry conviction abroad. Those were different days – and different personnel.

It is impossible to think of any period in modern British history when it would have been safe to put up with a mediocre Prime Minister. Now is certainly not the moment, and with this PM, mediocre is a gross overstatement. Punch? The only Punch he understands would be part of a Punch and Judy show. Weight? Boris? A laughable idea.
Quietly boast? Boast, yes: quiet, never. Carrying conviction? Non-existent.

The speech on Monday may well have been the worst – perhaps even much the worst – speech ever made by a British Prime Minister on an important occasion. For all the reasons above, reassurance was required, but also realism. If Boris had pretended that he had all the answers to all the questions, the performance would have been even more ludicrous. So the speech should have been all about tone of voice and leadership. The aim should have been to half-persuade the audience that they had nothing to fear except fear itself.

Instead, we got an exercise in jackanapery. If he had set out to express his contempt for those in the hall, he could not have done a better job. Three years ago, he was overheard saying ‘fuck business.’ At the time, this was assumed to be a spasm of exasperation, but perhaps not. He may have meant it, and on Monday he virtually repeated it. His few supporters insist that not all the speech was bad. It is true that there were some half-way sensible paragraphs, which had probably survived from a Downing Street draft. But taken as a whole, only a starving curate would have eaten that egg.

So why does he behave this way? (It must be remembered that in recent months there have been a number of poor speeches on significant occasions.) How can he be so deficient in political self-knowledge? There has even been speculation that he is ill, possibly with some variant of the Biden syndrome.

But I suspect that the problems are psychological, not physiological and that the answer lies in a mixture of arrogance and stubbornness. While Boris was at Eton, Martin Hammond, an excellent schoolmaster and a distinguished classicist, noted his refusal to acknowledge that the rules which applied to others also applied to him. Forty years on, nothing has changed, with one possible exception. Success has hardened his conviction that he can get away with anything. That reinforces his stubbornness. In effect, he is saying: ‘Here I am. For every fastidious political poseur who is repelled by my act, ten others, many of them not natural Tories, will laugh and applaud.’ To be fair to him, that has been true, for far longer than he deserved. This may no longer be the case.

Even if it were, no responsible Tory should be satisfied. This is no time to entrust the government of our great country to a jester. Most Tories believe that theirs is the true national party and that the country is rarely safe for long unless there is a Tory Government. But patriotism is not enough. To justify their aspirations, Tories have a duty to provide leaders who can live up to them. Today, that is not happening. Boris is a charismatic narcissist whose most profound political statement is ‘have cake, eat cake.’ This is a man who has no interest in others except as a means of his own gratification, or in his country except as a stage to strut on: a man who has no interest in truth. To the great offices of state which he has dishonoured, he has brought all the dignity of a clown, running away from the circus because a bailiff has arrived with a paternity writ.

It is time for this circus performance to end. The mechanics are unclear. There is no Michael Heseltine, who has spent five years sharpening enough daggers to equip all of Caesar’s assassins. There is no obvious Geoffrey Howe, ready to turn a resignation speech into a lethal weapon. But the Tory party brought down Margaret Thatcher, who had won three Elections and had a majority of 100. Boris won one Election, against Jeremy Corbyn. If Tories could dispose of a world-historical leader, they can surely divest themselves of a world-historical buffoon. If the will could be mobilised, the way would be found. The Party must stiffen its resolve.