British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will cross another milestone on 19 June 2020, when he turns fifty-six, just 35 days before his first work anniversary at the helm of the nation. It has already turned out to be a particularly eventful year for him, both as leader of the nation and in his own personal life. As leader, he has had to grapple with an overwhelming global public health emergency and a crippling economic disaster, to which can be added the current challenges of post-Brexit trade talks and anti-racism protests, without mentioning many other low-level and yet bothersome issues cluttering up the background. On a personal level, he has become father for at least the sixth time, and has also occupied an intensive care bed in the NHS as a high-profile Covid-19 victim. In his first year as Prime Minister he has come up against more challenges than most previous holders of that office have faced during their entire time in post.
Mr Johnson has an interesting pedigree, not wholly Anglo-Saxon, for someone with decidedly nationalist sentiments. Born to English parents in New York City, Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson holds dual British-US nationality. His paternal grandfather, Wilfred Johnson, began life as Osman Ali, the son of Ali Kemal-who was interior minister of Turkey from 1919 to 1922. On the other side of the family, his maternal great-grandmother, Marie-Louise de Pfeffel, was half-German and half-French. His educational background can reasonably be described as being ‘elite’: Ashdown House preparatory school, Forest Row, East Sussex; Eton College (King’s Scholar, member of Pop, Captain of School, editor of The Chronicle, secretary of the Debating Society, and winner of the Newcastle Classics Prize); and Balliol College, Oxford (Secretary, and then President, of the Oxford Union, member of the Bullingdon Club, upper-second-class degree in classics).
Johnson started his working career as a trainee journalist with The Times, progressing up the ranks as Brussels correspondent (1989-94) and assistant editor and chief political columnist (1994-99) at The Daily Telegraph, and ending up as editor of The Spectator magazine (1999-2005). His right-wing journalistic affiliations inevitably facilitated his political trajectory, propelling him through membership of the House of Commons (Conservative MP for Henley-on-Thames, 2001-08, and for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, 2015 onward), the mayoralty of London (first Conservative Mayor, 2008-2016), and the Foreign Secretaryship (2016-18), before he eventually attained the highest political position in the country-a position he had allegedly coveted from a very early age.
Very few of us can claim a personal knowledge of, or a close working relationship with, any of our political leaders. Our perceptions depend on what newspapers we read, what radio and television broadcasts we listen to, and where we choose to position ourselves in the polarised political landscape of the day. Putting everything together, we end up conjuring an image which guides, and indeed is guided by, our respective political affiliations and helps us decide where to cast our votes.
Mr. Johnson has taken some care to define his persona by cultivating a superficially likeable and deliberately dishevelled public image. His clumsy and somewhat oversized frame, topped by an unruly crop of tousled blond hair, and the appearance of having dressed in a hurry, almost as an afterthought, all add up to make him a cartoonist’s delight. He speaks well, at times possessed of scintillating wit- a quality that at one time made him a lucratively well-paid, and highly sought-after, postprandial orator. He puts his Classics education to good use, peppering his utterances with long and obscure English words, and sometimes even more obscure terms borrowed from the Greek and Latin. His intimate knowledge of mythology means that he can discern the frequent re-enactment of ancient myths in today’s events. His one hero, above all, is Winston Churchill. At times, during the present crisis, he has attempted, with varying success, to come across as “Churchillian” in his pronouncements during moments of statesmanship. His eccentricity, built up on the background of a “lovable rogue” image, continues to endear him to a British public in love with similarly roguish, albeit fictional, characters, such as “Del Boy” and “Minder”. In particular, large numbers of women are said, on good authority, to” adore” him.
While Mr Johnson is well versed in the classics, he seems to be less of a numbers man, appearing somewhat disinterested when it comes to boring detail and tedious small print. But then one could argue that, given the available back-up talent, he doesn’t have to. But then he does not come across a strategic visionary -a man of ideas-either. Apart from strong Eurosceptic tendencies and a self-designated label of “one-nation Conservative”, it can be difficult to identify his precise stance on many important political and economic issues of the day. Indeed, many commentators refer to a certain flexibility of approach, leading him to equate climate change with changes of his own mind, and allowing him to negotiate his way around difficult direct questioning with a certain deftness of touch, bumbling though it might appear at first glance.
What seems more important for the leader of our nation is to keep the messages simple and easy to follow, rather than bother unduly with the nuances and complexities of reality. Clever messaging, guided by highly capable spin doctoring, thereby enabled Mr Johnson to lead the Conservative Party to a landslide victory in the December 2019 general elections, mostly on the back of two three-world slogans: “Get Brexit Done!” and “Take Back Control!” In the process, Mr Johnson transformed himself into an unlikely poster boy for working-class people in former staunchly pro-Labour-voting communities in the North of England.
Think what you may- love him or loathe him, even describe him as a “Marmite” character-it would, however, be churlish not to wish him a happy birthday and the best of luck as he steers the country through troubled waters into a seemingly dark and uncertain future.
Ashis Banerjee