Kamikazee Boris is hell-bent on revenge

Boris Johnson used to play an effective game of coarse rugger. His on-field philosophy was simple. Get away with any rules breach you can, as long as the referee does not notice. For rugby, read politics, When it came to the privileges committee, Boris had a grave difficulty. There were two basic concepts which he never understood: truth and impartiality. What is truth? said jesting Bojo, and would not stay for an answer. Once again, it is a matter of what you can get with. Equally, in Boris’s world, truth has a very brief shelf-life. On Monday, he might say something to get himself out of a hole. But if that is quoted back to him on Wednesday, he would be irritated. For him, sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

For Boris, impartiality is as incomprehensible as enduring truth. He has always believed that other people only exist for his gratification, and the same is true of procedures. The idea that the members of a parliamentary committee might pursue truth and establish the facts wherever this leads, then: Boris would laugh that to scorn. In any dealings, he would always pursue his own interests. He would find it incomprehensible that anyone else would act differently. If a committee produces a report that he finds unwelcome, there can only be one explanation. They are out to get him.

In response, he also fell back on rugby, using a well-known phrase: “Get your retaliation in first.” On Friday, he bombarded the airwaves with allegations that a committee with a Tory majority had distorted the facts to take revenge for Brexit. His intention was clear: to implant that version of events in the public mind before the actual report is published. Most people I know were convinced that Boris would be convicted of lying to the Commons. As Philip Stephens of the Financial Times once wrote: “Boris Johnson has lied his way through life and politics.” So why should he make an exception for the House of Commons, an institution for which he has never shown much respect. It is to be hoped that the report will be factual, forensic – and damning. But Boris will hope that a lie can be halfway round the world before truth pulls its boots on.

The same is true of the peerage question. Again, there are procedures and rules. Yet again, Boris thought that these could be brushed aside at his convenience and was furious when he was thwarted. In particular, he seemed to want to issue post-dated peerages and to bounce the Prime Minister into agreeing. When he was told that this was not possible, he reacted with all the dignity of a spoiled child being denied another bag of sweets.

Meanwhile, poor Rishi Sunak is trying to run a decent government. He wants to encourage the West to coordinate its response to the Ukraine crisis and the threat from China. He and Jeremy Hunt are implementing an economic policy based on realism, not fantasy. Yes, he would like to produce tax cuts, but only when it is safe to do so and without undermining the strategy for counter-inflation. Margaret Thatcher would have agreed with all of that. Yet again, Boris is reverting to the only coherent economic programme he has ever offered: “Have cake: eat cake.”

He wanted to be Prime Minister. With the help of Jeremy Corbyn, he won a potentially transformative majority. But then there was a problem. Force of ego had swept him into No.10 and brought him the gratification that his ego craved. But beyond that, what was he going to do? In one of the Just William books, William announces that he is going to be King. One of the other outlaws – his gang – then asks him what he will do when he becomes King. William has an easy answer: “I’ll rule.” For William, read Boris. As a prime minister, he consistently failed to turn opportunities into achievements.

So what happens next and how does Sunak escape from a train crash? We can be certain on one point. Boris will be doing everything possible to increase that damage. He was never at ease with Rishi Sunak or with any other strong colleagues. He preferred Cabinet ministers like Nadine Dorries. British politics has rarely been more volatile, but there is some clarity amidst the chaos. The last thing on earth that Boris would want is an election victory for Rishi Sunak. Forget the Tory Party, forget the country, forget the need for a strong government in a dangerous world: Boris is out for revenge. So how many fellow assassins will he recruit?

In one of his many futile attempts to convince his fellow Tories that there were advantages in sanity, John Major once said that when the Tory party was in trouble, it would form a circle. The troops would then raise their rifles to their shoulders – then turn inward and open fire. But he failed to persuade his colleagues to forego the pleasure of suicide.

Boris is now the leader of the Tory party’s suicide wing. It would be a tragic abdication of responsibility and a criminal betrayal of the national interest if he won enough supporters to assist him. The only party he should ever again be allowed to run are the ones about which he misled parliament.

Sunak himself must respond by doing what he is good at: calm, managerial-style government, which happens to be the only way to stabilise and strengthen the economy. His attempts to project this message will be disrupted by a constant barrage of noises off from Boris but he has simply got to fight his way through that with the help of sensible colleagues.This way does not work. To put it mildly, there is no guarantee that the Tories will win the next election, but the Sunak approach offers hope: the only hope.

The Tory party has a great and proud history of national service. Without excessive bashfulness, sound Tories believe themselves to be the proper British national party, always ready to steer the country out of a crisis. We face plenty of crises now. So Tories have a choice. Do they rally to their duty and enable a good prime minister to provide the leadership the country needs, or do they betray their principles and their destiny by allowing Boris Johnson to use their party as a plaything for a demented narcissist?

Write to us with your comments to be considered for publication at letters@reaction.life