LONDON — Boris Johnson hurtled to the top of British politics with an air of charm and disarrayed befuddlement. He slipped into Latin and Greek, changed sides when it suited his ambitions and oozed a mischievous bravado, as when he put his foot on a table at the French president’s palace last week.
But Johnson’s decision on Wednesday to cut short a session of Parliament revealed another side: the ruthless tactician who took office as prime minister this summer. With Brexit hanging in the balance, Johnson marshaled all the power of Downing Street to cut out the legs of a wobbly opposition, risking a constitutional crisis to get what he has promised.
Suddenly the man affectionately known as “BoJo” was being rebranded by some opponents a “tin-pot dictator.” And President Donald Trump, known for his own norm-smashing maneuvers, applauded Johnson, calling him on Twitter “exactly what the U.K. has been looking for.”
Johnson’s opponents argue that his policies could result in a disastrous no-deal Brexit with the potential to tear apart the United Kingdom, cripple British agriculture and some manufacturing sectors and throw the economy into a recession, while producing shortages of food and medicines.
But those warnings have been filed away under “Project Fear” by Johnson and his supporters.
And with his boldest move yet as prime minister, Johnson showed that he would be as pugnacious in Downing Street as critics said his predecessor, Theresa May, was timid — and a radically different politician than he was as London’s mayor.
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See Also:
(1) Brexit: Boris Turns to the Queen
(2) Europe: “Mediterranean Taxis” for People-Smugglers
(3) 30 years after Berlin Wall fell, dashed hopes boost far-right
(5) Brexit victory: Scottish judge throws out Remainer bid to stop Boris suspending Parliament
