I used to think that people in high positions must really have a bit about them to be where they were, that they must be grappling with a lot and that when they appeared to bumble or act stupidly it couldn’t be the whole picture, they had to have some talent to be running a country.
But watching Theresa may flounder through brexit I realised this was not the case. She was not talented, or smart. These people get where they are even though, or maybe because, their confidence far outweighs their talent. Complete lack of self awareness and low cunning as well as some basic smarts is part of the package, but genuinely, Boris is not smart. He is talented in other ways though, clearly. That applies to trump too.
They can’t put a glove on Boris, a political mastermind who has convinced paddy and the world that he is a auld gobshite, he’ll be in power for 10 years. A Machiavellian genius
Theresa May was a shit politician. Not particularly smart or talented, and, like the majority of Tories, racist. But she looks pretty good in comparison to Johnson.
You got the sense with May that at least there was some sort of a belief in public duty there, however cack handed.
She wasn’t playing a caricature and there was some sort of acknowledgment of a basic framework of facts, some sort of semblance in a belief in accountability.
None of that exists with Johnson. He plays the game in the way dictators do. He is playing a carefully crafted character. He is an actor.
His mission is the politics of spectacle. To abolish politics and real issues in favour of a politics of the invented parallel world. That’s what a culture war is. Forget real issues and get people to look over there, and fight entirely on made up issues.
It’ll be how the rest of the party react to it. If they think he’s done well then he’s in bother but I’d imagine the new MPs will have some loyalty to the prick. Gove and the like will be gearing up for a heave after recess.
The other angle is the Hancock angle. If he does end up being the fall guy, how much does he know and will he have the balls to take others down with him and who will those others be?
I doubt he has the balls to. A weasel. He also won’t because he’s up to his neck in it too. Although I’ve just seen that he’s doing the COVID press conference tomorrow. The press should go in hard at him.
The other point being, I would be very doubtful that labour have either the firepower or the mental ability to take advantage of it. Plus the success of the vaccine rollout will make the British public somewhat indifferent to the goings on.
