‘When a man is
about to be hanged,’ said Dr Johnson, ‘it concentrates his mind wonderfully.’
Assuming that, during his time in the intensive care ward, Boris Johnson felt
acutely reminded of his own mortality, what effect might that have?
Because you can’t
believe a word he says, anything you write about Johnson is highly speculative,
but I spoke to someone who claimed to know him, who told me something I found
reassuring. He said the prime minister cares a lot about what the history books
will say about him.
If he had died
during his brush with coronavirus, they wouldn’t have made great reading: ‘He
knew leaving the EU would be highly damaging for the UK, but he pressed on with
it because he thought it would advance his own career. He undermined prime minister
Theresa May on the pretext that her Withdrawal Agreement was not good enough,
then once he had replaced her, negotiated one that was worse. He won an
election under a slogan he knew was mendacious, and then when he was confronted
with the worst crisis the UK had faced in decades, he proved completely unequal
to the task.' Though the charge sheet would obviously be longer than this.
If Johnson is
serious about being treated more kindly by history, he must realise there are a
number of policies he is going to have to reverse. Most obviously, limiting the
damage from Brexit by agreeing a close relationship with the EU to secure the
frictionless trade on which the UK’s future depends.
So far the signs
aren’t good. He has bizarrely ruled out any extension of the transition period
which ends on December 31 at which point, the UK is in danger of crashing out
of Europe with a huge hit to jobs, public services, businesses etc.
But the lesson for
Boris Johnson of his intimation of mortality is surely this. If there is
something you need to do, do it today. There may be no tomorrow.
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