270. Phenomenal Boris

It’s the time of Boris. This episode tracks Boris Johnson’s character, starting with a less than complimentary report from his housemaster at Eton to this parents, through his time in the rich kids’ Bullingdon Club in Oxford, followed by some disreputable incidents when he was Mayor of London, to his endorsing of claims he must have known were false in the Brexit campaign. This period is capped by his becoming Prime Minister, something he doubtless felt was no more than his entitlement.

The episode then follows his work to complete Brexit, including his attempt to get parliament out the way so it couldn’t block him, an attempt that would eventually be ruled illegal. There was also his purging of the Parliamentary Conservative Party of leading pro-EU voices, making it more Eurosceptic than ever. That was confirmed by the December 2019 election, which he won handsomely, with none of the eleven purged Tories getting back into parliament. With a good majority, he was able to ‘get Brexit done’, his slogan in the election.

Labour under its left-wing leader Jeremy Corbyn, took a hiding, emerging with its lowest haul of MPs since 1935, breaking the dubious record previously set by the previous party leader from the left, Michael Foot, in 1983.

As well as Brexit, what marked the rest of Boris’s time as Prime Minister was a series of scandals, which suggested irresponsible behaviour on his part and a desire to hide information that might confirm it publicly. Eventually, there was one scandal too many and his ministerial colleagues started to resign from government in droves, until he decided the game was up and stood down himself.

Illustration: The Bullingdon Club in 1987, with David Cameron at left in the back row and Boris Johnson, at the right of the row of sitting figures. All are wearing the (expensive) Club clothing. Photograph: Mallams/Lucas Field Media, from the Guardian.

Music: Bach Partita #2c by J Bu licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License