There are few values that unite the British across history and class more than the sublime importance of humour—wit as an effortlessly-wielded form of cultural power.
What North Americans fail to grasp about Prime Minister Boris Johnson (and the British generally fail to recognize about themselves) is that he did not succeed in his long-held, much-mocked ambition of the premiership in spite of his history of lying, shagging and general ludicrousness, but because of it.
The key to Johnson’s appeal has always been the fact that he’s never made the mistake of trying too hard at anything or been consistent enough to pretend to care. That would be dull and if there’s one thing Boris doesn’t do, it’s dullness.
The narrative that Johnson strategically gamed his way into office by selling British people a well-crafted lie (his NHS bus promise a parallel to Trump’s MAGA) is also a delusion. Yes, Boris and Trump are both habitual fibbers with iconic hair and populist harbingers of an era of uncertainty, but that’s where their similarity ends.
British Conservative MPs believe (probably correctly) that Johnson can win the next election because that’s what the polls are telling them and while polls often lie they rarely do so as consistently and with such ass-backward success as the U.K.’s current prime minister. If he does win it will be less a testimony to his political skill than to the weakness of the competition.
[…]
See Also:
(1) Boris Johnson mocks Merkel with her own phrase in press conference – Reporters in stitches
(2) Watch out Juncker! Donald Trump set to smash EU with multibillion dollar tariffs
(3) End of Corbyn? Why an early General Election would rip apart the Labour Party
(4) Merkel will cave! German editor outlines ‘classic’ way Chancellor will ‘give in’ on Brexit
(5) Britain and Italy are now the terrible twins of Europe
