Boris Exposed

The prime minister seems to have crisis two modes: bored, and muddled.

Whenever a populist demagogue takes power a possibility quickly emerges: that some kind of crisis unfolds under their leadership that is sufficient to prove that they are manifestly unfit for office. For Donald Trump, who has been astonishingly lucky in his presidency, it took four years to emerge. For Boris Johnson it came just a few months after he became the leader of his party and the country. Many of us warned from the beginning that hiring an after-dinner speaker who was a second-rate journalist and a third-rate Foreign Secretary was a bad idea at the best of times. But to have someone like this leading the county during a pandemic is beyond many of the worst-case scenarios imaginable.

I wanted to see Boris John exposed as the wrong person for the job, but I was hoping it would take something far less serious and distressing than a pandemic overwhelming our under-funded and under-appreciated NHS. Of course the crisis could have been a chance for Johnson to prove his mettle as a leader, someone who could overcome his reputation for bluster and joking and assure the country that it was safe under his leadership. Sadly, from the start, this has been a crash course in how not to communicate during a crisis.

What you see with Boris Johnson’s bored, repetitive, lethargic press conferences is the most perfect example of why he should never have been allowed near No. 10 and why his party should never be forgiven for inflicting him on us.

He only wanted to be prime minister for two reasons: because he thought he deserved it and he thought it would be fun.

Now, instead of reacting like a leader, he looks like a petulant child who has been told that they cannot play their favourite game.

Just look at his language, verbal and body.

You can see how annoyed he is at this. He doesn’t show urgency or determination, he isn’t consistent, and his messaging has been catastrophically muddled and overly complex.

Just to give one example: a few days before Mother’s Day he was asked at a press conference if he would be seeing his mother. Having just told the country avoid having lunch with their own mother, he said he was looking forward to seeing his own. It was only later when a journalist asked for confirmation that Downing Street assured them that he meant seeing her over Skype.

We also had the debacle over the confusing message on herd immunity, where a perceptions emerged that Britain’s plan was essentially to allow the elderly to bear the brunt of the virus while protecting the economy by not shutting it down. Just look at how Boris and the government have been depicted in the foreign press and you will see what kind of country many of our friends and allies see us as having become. Incompetent at best; indifferent at worst.

There are even rumours that Johnson’s own MPs are whispering about whether he is up to the job, and I wonder if this inaction on social distancing had gone on for another week whether a move would have been made to form a government of national unity with someone else as prime minister.

His statement on Monday night informing the country that they were now under lockdown (he somehow managed to avoid using the magic word) was an improvement, and may just have done enough to avoid the worst of the virus. But while it may have bought Britain time, it should not buy this prime minister immunity from scrutiny.

It may be that this ends up being less severe than we first feared. Some epidemiologists and other experts are quietly optimistic that the numbers may not be as bad as originally predicted.

But in that case we should look at this as an example of just how badly led we are, and would be if something else like this happens again one day.