Boris’s contradictions may yet benefit the EU

Boris Johnson led the Brexit referendum’s ‘Leave’ campaign, but his ambivalence about it may bring Britain back within the fold if its economy continues to suffer, says Mark Leonard

IF history repeats itself — first tragedy, then farce — what comes next is Boris Johnson, a shape-shifting politician who embodies the contradictions of our age.

Johnson is a tribune of the people who grew up with the privileges of the 1%; a child of immigrants who campaigned for closed borders; a Conservative who wants to upend the political order; an erudite man who mocks expertise; and a cosmopolitan who calls black people ‘piccaninnies’.