The performative pearl-clutching, the saucer-eyed wailing: “How could he?” The sound and rote fury on social media and rolling news, followed by a satisfied, full-bellied silence as grateful journalists wait for their next steaming dollop of Boris buffoonery. Over this election, Johnson is playing the media and the public just as Trump did before claiming the White House in 2016. Like Trump, Johnson has no interest in wooing all bases. Focus groups told the pollster Michael Ashcroft last month that Johnson would most probably spend a spare Friday night “shagging his secretary”. Johnson may be a rogue, but what should worry us is that he is a risk to our economy, society and democracy.

Source: The Guardian December 05, 2019 06:00 UTC