The way Mr. Boris Johnson was sometimes depicted in the British media; it was a surprise that he won a clear landslide in the Conservative leadership contest which held between 7 and 22nd July. It went through five ballots. He won resoundingly in each and eventually emerged in the members’ ballot with 92,153 votes which was 66.4 per cent of the votes to his closest rivaland former Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s 46,666 votes or 33.6 per cent.
He won 51.3 per cent of the Members of Parliament to Mr. Hunt’s 24.7 per cent. Johnson was often said not to be a serious person, a joker, often disheveled and could say outlandish things sometimes. The results found him otherwise. Yet after having been invited by the Queen to form the government and even after giving a speech considered to be Churchillian in its optimism and patriotism, doubts still lingered as to his ability to pull off the Brexit task to which he is committed.
In his inaugural speech in front of No. 10 Downing Street, he spelt out his programme. He would make the streets safer, introduce 20,000 police men, take greater care of the old and vulnerable, guarantee a superb education, and answer the pleas of the forgotten and the left-behind. He will build fantastic new roads and rail and full fibre broadband and pump up productivity and higher wages and unleash the productive power of the UK.
Then he reminded the British of their history, their flag, freedom, free speech and habeas corpus, the rule of law and democracy and why Britain must be out of EU on October 31. The new prime minister said he had a better deal to deliver Brexit, but he did not expatiate on that point, which seemed a pointer that the Brexit jinx is probably still lethal. After claiming two prime ministers, it may still claim a third.
Boris Johnson’s most observable strategy is to put the opponents of Brexit on the defensive, both domestic and foreign. The domestic critics he has pigeon-holed into “doubters, doomsters and gloomsters.” They have made the UK prisoner of the old argument of 2016. The external ones are those who are trying to “bet against Britain” and he assured them they “would lose their shirts.”
He expressed supreme confidence that the season of indecision and dithering is gone. The British people could no longer wait to begin and he is assembling a cabinet to ensure that their will shall be done.
Johnson is fortunate to have a Labour Party that has a great deal of self-doubt. Labour has not been able to articulate a coherent strategy on Brexit. Its leader, Jeremy Corbyn, once spoke of the need for a second referendum but a second referendum doesn’t seem to excite a great many Labour MPs. Johnson is determined on Brexit, deal or no deal and he is ramping up plans. He has appointed Michel Gove to begin planning for the doomsday scenario for a “no deal” Brexit which some analysts have predicted would result to something akin to the financial meltdown of 2008-2009.
The response from Brussels has been to match Johnson’s pugilistic posturing with Jean-Claude Juncker’s uncompromising “the current (Theresa May’s negotiated deal) agreement is the best and the only one possible.” The confrontation which Johnson is praying for is likely to be realised and the gambit is that he will put the blame on the EU and willy-nilly pull Britain out of the EU.
The idea that this cannot be done without a new general election should give the new prime minister and the Conservative Party sleepless nights. Prime Minister David Cameron called for elections, lost it and resigned. Prime Minister Theresa May called national elections, lost her majority and never recovered.
That hastened her departure. Boris Johnson, who came to power with the slimmest majority in history,would not be in a hurry to call for a general election except, of course, if a no deal Brexit makes it compulsory, in which case he may have no choice. There is no doubt that contrary to Johnson’s assertions, the British populace is divided and rebuilding the country and creating national unity will take more than mere words.
Opponents are accusing Johnson of rightwing populism. He is not exactly the UK’s version of Donald Trump even if both men see things from the same angle. Johnson is not anti-immigrant and racist like Trump. And in spite of all appearances, those who think they know one or two things about British politics warn that no one should underrate Boris Johnson.