What manner of man is Boris Johnson? Well, he likes to have people think of him as a good-natured but bumbling schoolboy. The truth is less amusing. He is an ambitious and ruthless politician. Why else do you think Opposition politicians – and some in his own party – are throwing up fences to make sure that he doesn’t find a way to leave the EU without a deal? Or a ghastly deal, come that.
Johnson is also a man with a king-size helping of chutzpah (brass neck, Virginia, brass neck). An example: a short while ago in the House of Commons he declared that it would be the best thing for the UK “and for Europe”, for the UK to leave the EU. The grim fact is that Britain’s exit will benefit neither of them, but Boris had no problem in delivering the line with maximum assurance. Of course he’s had lots of practice in saying things he knows are untrue.
With passionate energy he told the DUP (it’s all there on videotape) that he would never contemplate, nor would any British PM contemplate, putting a barrier or restriction of any kind between the UK and the North. The deal which, at the time of writing, he’s pushing very hard to get through the Commons does exactly that. He only had to look across the chamber at the stricken faces of the DUP MPs, but that didn’t deter him one whit. No, this deal was a terrific deal for everyone.
So yes, Boris is a stranger to integrity. But sometimes, when it’s to his advantage, he’ll go through the motions of giving his word and keeping it. For example, he was squeezed into a legal position where he had to send a letter to the EU requesting an extension before signing off on a deal. What to do? Why, send an unsigned copy of the letter and follow that up with another (in this case signed) letter saying that he’d been forced to send the first. Like, the EU would never have guessed if Boris hadn’t told them.
One group of politicians love Boris: Conservative MPs (with obvious exceptions). Since seizing the reins of the party around 100 days ago, Bojo has done the Tory party a power of good. A few months ago, the party looked as though the Brexit Party would swallow it whole. Enter Boris and the Brexit Party is a historical footnote. And don’t remind people that his deal is less good for the UK than Theresa May’s deal, that’s beside the point.
Boris has taken full advantage of male bias. Theresa May said last Saturday she had a sense of déjà vu when she heard Bojo present his deal. That’s how it is, Theresa. A woman can present a solution and it’ll ignored; next thing the same solution is put forward by a man and all hands congratulate him on his originality.
As I write, the faces of DUP MPs are as long as a wet Aghohill Sabbath. Two things are making them gloomy. One of course is Bojo and his double dealing. The other is that by shafting them, he has put the Conservative Party in rude good health for the next election.
The same applies to Leo Varadkar. As one RTÉ presenter noted, Fianna Fail must have been choking on its praise for Fine Gael and how they played the Brexit game. Yes of course Fianna Fail wanted the south – and the north, maybe – to be protected from the ravages of a no-deal Brexit. But did Leo and Simon have to be the ones who got all the plaudits? Both Boris and Leo can claim to have done their parties some service, and you may be sure the voter will be reminded of that when a general election is called.
But while it’ll probably be all wine and roses for Boris and Leo, the DUP shouldn’t be too down-hearted. Yes, they’ve been publicly shafted and their political wit revealed as nearer to half-wit. But not to worry – the polls will be kind to them as usual. Instead of loyalists seeing the DUP’s difficulty as their opportunity, and channeling the discontent with the DUP into political gains, loyalism instead has muttered about betrayal and setting off a bomb in Limerick. With that level of response, the DUP can safely put the union jack on the donkey and ride to electoral victory one more time.
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