Reposting my thoughts on Johnson. Written a while back but kinda still feels relevant
Chris Johns
Below is something I wrote a good few months ago. I think it’s stood the test of time well, all things considered. It’s unedited apart from the next two quotes from someone who knows Johnson well. A Tory Old-Etonian ex-Cabinet Minister really did say all these things about Johnson:
This is my post from a while back:
I’ve resisted writing about the latest outpouring of news about Johnson’s latest lies, not-quite-apologies and all the other daily degradations of public life in Britain. After all, how can any of this be news? Also, given the sheer volume of commentary and analysis, how can there be anything new to say? Resistance is futile, so here goes. If nothing else, someone needs to sort through the gigabytes of writing and talking; to summarise and emphasise what is most salient.
Anyone who expresses shock or even surprise hasn’t been paying attention. We were warned, years ago, about Johnson: his character (none) and his beliefs (one: himself).
Private letters should stay private but one written by one of Johnson’s teacher’s at Eton has entered the public domain, apparently (and somewhat oddly) with the permission of both the author and the recipient.
Johnson has been fired from high-profile positions twice in his career. The first sacking came at The Times: editor Charles Wilson discovered Johnson had made up a key quote for an article.
The second dismissal involved lying to then Tory part leader Michael Howard about an episode in Johnson’s private life. Let’s avoid prurience, those personal details, and keep the focus on the lies and the subsequent sacking.
After The Times, Johnson fetched up at the Daily Telegraph and soon became a Brussels-based correspondent, ‘reporting’ about the European Commission. His stories have become legendary and went down a storm in middle England. Exaggerations, myths and only occasional nods to to the truth were his stock-in-trade. He didn’t invent Euroscepticism but deepened and widened its appeal. The trick usually involved writing stories about non-existent Brussels regulations: bendy bananas, condom-size, sex toys for older people, prawn cocktail crisps and many others that have passed into UKIP legend.
That Johnson poured fuel on the Eurosceptic fire while in Brussels is well known. What is less appreciated is twofold. First, he almost certainly didn’t believe a word of it, seeing his job mostly as writing an entertainment column, the sort that gets far more readers than dry reports about the goings-on at the Commission. Lack of belief - in pretty much anything - is a constant feature of Johnson’s life.
Second, he almost single-handedly turned Euroscepticism from being a near exclusive hard-left obsession in Britain to something respectable and popular on the right. John Major’s ‘Bastards’ and David Cameron’s ‘swivel-eyed loons’ became the Tory mainstream, helped in no small part by Johnson’s columns.
Many journalists have expressed discomfort with Johnson’s writing. None more so than eminent historian and former editor of the Telegraph, Max Hastings. In 2019, Hastings wrote about Johnson in excoriating terms (here), just before he became Prime Minister. I’ll include some juicy quotes but a read of the original (Guardian) article is recommended.
There is room for debate about whether he is a scoundrel or mere rogue, but not much about his moral bankruptcy, rooted in a contempt for truth.
Dignity still matters in public office, and Johnson will never have it. Yet his graver vice is cowardice, reflected in a willingness to tell any audience, whatever he thinks most likely to please, heedless of the inevitability of its contradiction an hour later.
On Johnson’s hero, with whom he would like to be compared:
Churchill’s self-obsession was tempered by a huge compassion for humanity, or at least white humanity, which Johnson confines to himself. He has long been considered a bully, prone to making cheap threats.
Hastings has written about Johnson several times since that piece. In a more recent (£) column, referencing earlier thoughts, he opined:
I wrote three years ago that, if Boris Johnson ever achieved his ambition to become prime minister, Britain would forgo any claim to be considered a serious country. I stick with that.
That point about Britain risking its status as a serious country is, surely today, self-evident.
And today, who can criticise Hastings for a quiet ‘I told you so’?
I am dismayed by the unfair criticism of the prime minister. Boris Johnson is exactly the man he always was, unfailingly true to himself and mendacious to others. He can no more stop doing what comes naturally than a cat can hold off killing sparrows. The people I have it in for are those who put him in Downing Street, ignoring his inescapable moral debasement of the office.
Johnson as PMSince taking office, the lies have multiplied. Perhaps because of that office, a few people have begun take notice. Maybe even care. A journalist writing made-up gossip columns from Brussels is one thing. When that exact same modus operandi is transferred to 10 Downing Street things become a tad more consequential.There are plenty of lie compendiums available via a simple google search. One of my favourites:A (very) short-list of the bigger lies would include the promise of 40 new hospitals, what was said to the Queen to force prorogation of parliament, forgetting he had a new phone (‘wallpapergate’) and ‘I wasn’t at a party’. There are plenty of others.‘Partygate’ has led to an unprecedented Johnson apology to parliament. Journalists, often supine ones, have finally found their voice in the last few days. The Times, for example, deconstructed Johnson’s apology perfectly:His apology was…limited to three discrete areas. First, he apologised for the public perception of the event. Second, he apologised for the mistakes of others. And third, he apologised for not breaking up the event. He did not, at any point, admit to breaching lockdown rules or apologise for attending the event in the first place.Some Conservatives have called for Johnson to go. His cabinet, with varying degrees of enthusiasm (I’m looking at you Rishi), have circled the defensive wagons. Hapless Tory hacks have been sent out with a clear brief: ‘say he apologised and we now have to wait for the results of Sue Gray’s enquiry’.Letting time work its stultifying magic is an obvious tactic. Planning for Gray to give Johnson wiggle room is another. Sacrificing Tory councillors in the upcoming May local elections is also part of the plan.The first question usually asked when the Westminster bubble gets hold of a bone is ‘will it cut through?’ ‘It’ being the latest instalment in the ‘rules don’t apply to me’ Johnsonian approach to politics and, well, life in general. That question isn’t asked today, so obviously has it ‘cut through’.The howls of genuine anger and pain from those who did abide by the rules in the most distressing of circumstances have been loud, clear and constant. This clip is well worth watching (as is that initial look on Rees-Mogg’s face).Almost as an aside (it would be a very big deal if it wasn’t for what is taking place centre-stage), Ress-Mogg’s disparagement of the leader of Scotland’s Conservative Party was truly jaw-dropping. Fuelling nationalist sentiment may or may not have been his aim. But he certainly revealed, for the umpteenth time, that this nativist English cabal running Britain is utterly uninterested in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.Prorogue Parliament; voter suppression; threaten the judiciary in your manifesto; ignore serious findings of bullying about your cabinet colleague; force the resignation of the independent official who reached that finding; break international treaty obligations; lie to parliament; lie to the electorate, another apology, this time to the Queen. The list, as I have now said several times is a long one. If the normal rules of politics applied, Johnson would be gone already. Rats, we are told, sometimes devour their young: at least one of the Brexiteer ultras has openly called for Johnson’s resignation. But the normal rules don’t apply. That’s the point of Boris Johnson. It took the Tories two years to oust Theresa May. Johnson clearly hopes that it will, in his case, take somewhat longer.He has bought time until the results of the Gray enquiry are released. As many others have said, Gray is independent-minded and has impeccable credentials - not least with regard to integrity. But she is a civil servant and, by definition not independent. She is leading an enquiry into her boss. Don’t expect a smoking gun.What of the police, also claiming, shamefully, to be waiting for Gray’s conclusions? More than 800 fines were issued UK-wide in the week of just one of those parties. People eating sandwiches together on a park bench have been sanctioned. Tens of thousands of fines have been issued since the start of the pandemic.A key issue raised by all of this, skirted around by the media, no doubt for fear of being sued, is the possibility that laws have been broken. Why are the police not investigating?The monarch, the judiciary, the police, parliament, the civil service, Ireland, Scottish Tories, the office of the Prime Minister: all have been contaminated by contact with Johnson. As have the lives of countless individuals.Britain is in a very deep hole.