THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
When he was at school (Eton, of course) his supervising master observed that because he was convinced that he was exceptional, Boris found it "churlish" to be reminded that he still was expected to observe the same rules as everyone else. His hero, Winston Churchill, declared that "We are all worms, but I like to think that I am a glow-worm!"
Boris, whether you like him or not, is a glow-worm. Who would dare to compare him unfavorably with the alternatives – Joe Biden, Scholz and Macron – all of them indescribably boring, Macron at more length than the others? Putin is not just boring, but sinister as well. Unlike Biden, Boris only falls over deliberately and for laughs, not because he can't help it.
He also is quite sporty. I was impressed by his performance at the Queen's Club when, invited to play doubles with Andy Murray, he appeared in brightly colored rugby socks and with an ancient wooden racquet so badly warped that if he ever hit the ball, which he rarely managed to do, it would land in the lap of some unsuspecting spectator. When rushing to the net, he would purposely try to somersault over it, with disastrous results. Needless to say, this was a smash hit performance, leaving everyone there a Boris supporter.
He repeated this feat by twice winning election as Mayor of the Labour stronghold of London and, in the general election, winning also the votes of millions of Northern Brits who had never dreamed of voting Conservative before.
Thanks to Boris, his private equity friend Kate Bingham made sure that the UK had far better, and earlier, supplies of vaccines than elsewhere in Europe. He then vetoed further lockdowns against the advice of many "experts."
As he was born in New York, Boris had an American as well as a British passport. A few years ago, he gave it up, he said, to "show his commitment to Britain" but also, probably, to escape the clutches of the US taxman. Strongly pro-American, eulogized by Trump for Brexit, he has been far stauncher than (no surprise) the French and Germans in support of Ukraine.
Boris is a (deliberately disheveled) rogue and never has pretended otherwise. He has lived up to his declared policy on cake, which is "pro having it and pro eating it". As for Partygate, as everyone knows, Boris loves parties and could not be expected to believe that his government's rules against them applied to him (see Eton quote above). But, as Bill Clinton also proved, rogues can be more gifted in politics than the grayer figures around them.
With faux Thatcher candidates falling over one another to promise tax (but not expenditure) cuts despite a record deficit, overtaking the impressive Rishi Sunak and the "human time bomb" Liz Truss, a surprise front runner emerged in Penny Mordaunt, who so far has proved, more closely than others, to resemble a normal human being. A naval reservist, having committed some infraction of the rules, she was challenged by her Navy colleagues to make a speech in the House of Commons using the word 'cock' six times, which she did in a peroration about chickens and eggs. This seems to have persuaded the Tory faithful that she is, or was, one of the boys. She will be much harder to attack than Boris, though whether she will prove to be very competent or as gifted an election winner remains to be seen.
If not, then Boris, having raked in millions from his memoirs and speeches, might just be tempted to emulate Churchill by returning to lead the opposition to a Labour government, led by someone whose speeches no one would ever really want to listen to.
