Irish Examiner view: Out of the frying pan, into the fire?

The performance of the UK prime minister, throughout yesterday, once again laid bare his narcissism in all its tawdry glory.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Secretary of State for Levelling Up Michael Gove (left), who Johnson fired after Gove requested the PM to resign.

Boris Johnson was never going to go easily — he thrives on chaos.

The succession of cabinet ministers and MPs who called for him to do the honourable thing throughout an extraordinary day in British politics yesterday must remember that it was a raw lust for power that got him into the position in the first place — remember his unquenchable thirst to stay in the job, whatever that entails.

The parallels with the 45th president of the United States of America, Donald J Trump, and his attempts to stay in office make for uncomfortable observation. Both men believed that the normal rules of politics never applied to them, and their capacity to dismiss seemingly terminal threats to their leadership is for Johnson, and was for Trump, limitless.

His performance throughout yesterday once again laid bare his narcissism in all its tawdry glory. Even as the resignations piled up and senior ministers emplored him to quit, his defiant message was: “I will not go”.

His twisted logic? If you think it’s bad now, it’ll be worse if I go. But gone is any vestige of the long-since debased theory that what he is doing is for the good of his country and its
electorate. All that remains is a naked voraciousness for power and all that’s now important is finding the means necessary to achieve it.

That Johnson believes — as seems to be the case — that he and only he can save the British people from themselves, from Europe and Russia, not to mention the ravages of inflation, the cost-of-living crisis, and a growing clamour for independence in Scotland and Wales illustrate an arc of self-delusion only someone as unhinged as him could arrive at.

Self-belief

His belief that only his own rules apply to his behaviour — and those of too many of his ministers — and that accepted conventions of political engagement and survival are not worthy of consideration, gives just a small indication of the problem facing those trying to oust him.

Given that his term in office has been characterised by lies, bluster, grandstanding, showboating, and self-aggrandisement, the bigger issue is not when he goes — and it’s now only a matter of time — but the mess he leaves behind.

Many Conservatives now believe it will be impossible to reinvent the party politically, such has been the damage Johnson inflicted on it.

And what of those who have to deal with the man on an international stage? Well, the EU is sick to the back teeth of trying to get Johnson’s Britain to conform to any sort of regulation — even when the prime minister and his cronies signed off on mutually binding treaties. They will welcome change.

And, here in Ireland, there will be much relief too when the curtain finally comes down on the Johnson era — but the fear remains: who and what will replace him?

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said the Government  will work with whoever the British prime minister is and whatever
parties are in power. It’s only a matter of time before there are changes — what’s to follow is anyone’s guess.

Be careful what we wish for.