meand one week It could somehow sum up Boris Johnson’s chaotic presidency, this has been the case. Last Saturday, Johnson was honored after becoming the first G7 leader to travel to Kyiv since the Russian invasion. Praised by Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukrainians cheered him in the streets, his enemies at home and his critics abroad reluctantly praised him. However, within 72 hours, he again faced calls to resign, having become the first British Prime Minister to be punished for breaking the law while in office. He is the Minister of Chaos in every sense of the word.
Under normal circumstances, being fined for breaching lockdown rules for attending his birthday celebration could force him out of office, particularly if it happened a few months ago, when a wave of discoveries erupted about illegal office “parties” in 10 Downing Street during the pandemic that seemed to be on the way. About to indulge his premiership. The problem wasn’t necessarily one particular party or that, but rather the general deceit, hypocrisy, and disrespect whose rule-breaking seemed to symbolize. However, by the time news of the fine fell on Tuesday, the country appeared to have moved. The announcement triggered an early eruption of acrimony, but by the end of the day it didn’t seem to swing on Johnson’s foot, even if much of the poll evidence suggested his popularity had been permanently damaged. The prime minister simply apologized, paid the fine and vowed to continue in office. The Conservative Party did not act against it.
Johnson may still be out of luck: Britain’s Metropolitan Police is investigating a string of other potentially illegal Downing Street parties during his reign and could issue more fines, causing another deadly crisis. However, for now at least, he’s still alive.
On the one hand, Johnson is simply lucky. The timing of the fine – a pittance of 50 pounds ($65) – could hardly have been better for the prime minister. Not only did it come during the Easter recess, when Parliament was not sitting and much of the country was in recess, but it came at the same moment when he was basking in the glory of his visit to Kyiv and the diplomatic success of the hawks he had taken toward Russia since Vladimir Putin’s invasion. Indeed, it is no exaggeration to say that the war in Ukraine may have saved Johnson.
The strange political reality to him, then, is that a crisis caused by someone else in a distant country may have saved him from a crisis caused by himself in his own country.
Johnson has been, opportunistic or otherwise, among the world’s most decisive leaders in support of Ukraine (although, it must not be said, in providing sanctuary to the Ukrainians themselves). Britain was one of the first countries to begin shipping offensive weapons to Ukraine and, along with the United States, led the intelligence war, leaking information about Putin’s plans. Johnson also built a particularly close relationship with Zelensky, with whom he spoke regularly on the phone.
In many ways, this is an absurd situation. The war in Ukraine has no bearing on whether Johnson should resign on the question of the principle that rule-makers cannot be rule-breakers. Britain is not at war. And even if that were the case, Britain has a track record of removing leaders when more is at stake for its survival. Nor would his impeachment fundamentally change British policy: Johnson may have led Britain’s response, but the government’s policy toward Ukraine has bipartisan support. However, for many Conservative MPs and supportive of the press, the war in Ukraine, and Johnson’s treatment of it, became the shield they could hide behind to allow him to continue in office.
Is Johnson just a lucky general then? We’ve been here before, after all. The scandals that have followed Johnson throughout his career are almost too numerous to notice – and even her blogging process diminishes them in some way. But he continues to climb, seemingly protected by fate. as one commenter joking Days ago, the phrase “This must be the end of Boris Johnson” was repeated so often over the years that it might as well be a British proverb. However, it is never the end. why?
Although Johnson’s handling of the Ukraine crisis clearly should not set the political penalty for his illegitimacy during the pandemic, in an important sense, the two events be linked. Part of the reason Johnson gets into trouble is the same reason he is often politically and diplomatically aggressive, eventually able to walk away with his career intact. He sees himself somewhat different, able to impose his will on events and control his destiny in the midst of chaos, not by hedging his character but by abiding by it, embracing its instincts, for this character, he thinks, is his source. Energy.
I have covered Johnson throughout my career, from his time as Mayor of London to his tenure as Foreign Secretary and then Prime Minister. Over the course of several months of following him around the country and talking to him to get a profile in Atlantic OceanI’m starting to doubt he felt that way. After getting burned, Johnson was not shy twice but persisted, seizing new opportunities until he found one that would allow him to step up.
This belief partially explains the audacity of his approach to the crisis in Ukraine and his desperation to visit Kyiv, which ultimately leads to the political capital he uses to fend off the Partygate scandal, which was itself a result of his belief in his impotence. Johnson is undoubtedly lucky, but partly because he thinks he is.
WWhile preparing for the interview Johnson last year, I spoke first with a group of his friends, colleagues and confidants. I’ve also consulted with historians and classics – the prime minister is a professed student of Roman and Greek society, often pronouncing his notes in Latin (usually to obfuscate or influence). One of them, the historian Tom Holland, explained that in the classical world, many great figures believed they had a personal relationship with the gods, were almost cared for, smiled, and destined to thrive. Do Johnson, Holland think, believe him Travel with FortunaRoman goddess of fortune? ‘He must feel he is a kind of genius in the classical sense – that fortune takes care of him,’ he told me. “The number of times the cup has been smashed from his lips, only to have it returned to him, is an unbelievable number.”
It is really unbelievable. Johnson was fired for lying as a junior reporter, only to become one of Britain’s best-paid journalists. He was fired for lying as a small Conservative Party spokesman, only to become Conservative Party leader and prime minister. He has now been fined by the police, only to show himself as a warlord in the biggest European conflict since World War II.
You don’t need to believe in Fortuna – or believe Johnson is a genius, classic or otherwise – to think that part of the reason Johnson keeps running from his own problems is because he is I am convinced that he is playing by different rules.
Essentially, Johnson believes that life is fleeting and fickle, both of which are “cosmically insignificant,” as he hopes for his career, and an opportunity for those with the energy and passion to seize it. In Johnson’s view, life is not a written drama or a moral test – and certainly not a historical march led by historical great powers. It is a battle of wills and personalities. As he once said: “Intelligence is really all about energy.” This is his outlook on life: intelligent people can express whatever they like; Life is not governed by their theories but by people willing to do things.
This look is why Johnson likes Zelensky so much, and perhaps why Zelensky, in turn, seems to like Johnson. In The Ukrainian President, Johnson sees a businessman, actor, former comedian and “populist” who has risen to the top through his own strength of character, and when faced with a challenge, he reveals that character is the most important. “The Ukrainians have the guts of a lion,” Johnson wrote after visiting Kyiv, adapting what Winston Churchill said about the British public. “President Zelensky gave that lion’s roar.”
Philosopher John Gray agreed with Holland’s assessment that Johnson’s view is shaped by his classical understanding of the world, which differs from that of contemporary Western leaders who, on Christian assumptions, see “progress” and the arcs of history all around them and strive to be on the right side of Date when they converge. When I spoke with Johnson, he mocked Tony Blair for exactly this, referring to Blair’s famous remark to say that the former prime minister “felt the hand of history on his shoulder, didn’t he?” From Johnson’s point of view, Gray told me, life is more Machiavellian. Machiavelli says that will is 50 percent of what determines success; The remaining 50 percent is Fortuna, said Gray. (I once told Johnson that he had pre-Christian pagan morals, but disagreed, saying Christianity is a “wonderful moral discipline,” adding, “I would consider myself a very bad kind of Christian.”)
Such a belief means that Johnson can be both bold and reckless. When I asked the Prime Minister if he had traveled with Fortuna, he evaded as usual, but I’m sure deep down he thinks he’s really smiling. More than that, it is possible that he believed in Fortuna not so much as a blind goddess as he believed in the brave. Herein lies the subtle difference. Johnson sees life and politics as a chaos in which events occur, but those individuals who have the energy to react faster are able to profit. Great people are not overwhelmed by circumstances; They are skilled enough to navigate the ups and downs of life. He thinks he is one of those people.
Johnson will face extraordinary challenges in the next year or so. The scandal over his behavior during the pandemic is not going away, the cost of living crisis at home threatens to overwhelm his government’s popularity, and his government has little money left to do much about. Structurally, it remains possible – in part because it happens to nearly all prime ministers – that he stumbles into a crisis that will eventually drain so much of his power that he can no longer sustain it. Maybe he already has. But as time goes on, he’s also more likely to reveal another chance to save himself than most. As on previous occasions, he may find a way to change his fortune – largely because he thinks he will.
