Toki Sekiguchi and Maurizio Gaudino — two names you may not have heard before and two people who have almost nothing in common. Tokyo schoolboy Toki and former German international footballer Gaudino have never met and they have no political significance on their own, but what they do share is that they know only too well the damage London Mayor, Boris Johnson, can inflict when he builds up a head of steam. Go online and watch the videos of ‘BoJo’ shoulder-barging unsuspecting 10-year-old Toki during a Rugby World Cup promotional event last year and flattening Gaudini with an impressive feat of incoordination in a 2006 charity football match, and you will see why the tousle-haired Tory holds a unique position in British politics.
Johnson — whose full name is Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson — is the only MP who transcends party politics, is universally recognisable and generally loved by the people despite his privileged background. A ComRes opinion poll revealed earlier this month that he is the sole high-profile British politician with a positive approval rating (+10), with his rivals ranked in the double-digit negative values — David Cameron at -17, George Osborne -24, Nigel Farage -25 and Jeremy Corbyn -29. And it’s all thanks to his largely harmless but entertaining antics like those on the rugby and football pitch. He has offended countless cities, areas and countries with crass comments, but he remains compelling and has undoubtedly been a success in selling London worldwide during his eight years as the directly elected mayor of the British capital.
But now the lovable court jester wants to be king.
Last week’s announcement that he will defy Prime Minister and long-time friend (or rival, according to Boris’s biographer Sonia Purnell) David Cameron to campaign for the UK to leave the European Union ahead of the June 23 referendum is being seen as a thinly veiled affront to his former Eton College chum’s leadership.
He may like to come across as a blundering buffoon — à la ‘Beano Boris’ as he is depicted in Private Eye — but his crossing of the PM in this instance smacks of a political move, an opportunistic sidestep in a bid to further his career and perhaps even succeed Cameron, whose position will almost certainly become untenable if the country backs a ‘Brexit’ in the summer.
Wants a better deal
Johnson has defended the European Union in the past, he speaks French, Spanish, Italian and German very well, he was educated and met his second wife Marina in Brussels, while his father Stanley worked for the European Commission and was a Member of the European Parliament. But now, Boris’ conscience has told him: “I will be advocating vote leave because I want a better deal for the people of this country, to save them money and to take control. That is really what this is all about.”
Cameron was quick to hit back at Johnson’s defection, saying: “I have huge respect for Boris as a politician and he is a great friend of mine, and he is a fantastic mayor of London. I think he has a lot to give to the Conservative party and to this country, but on this issue I think he has got it wrong and reached the wrong conclusion.”
So is it time to take the funnyman of UK politics seriously? Is he about to steamroller his political rivals like he did his sporting foes Toki and Gaudino?
The 51-year-old’s gamble has seen him side with Justice Secretary Michael Gove, the intellectual but deeply unpopular (he’s a -29 in the ComRes poll) former Education Secretary, and between them the unlikely allies have added some much-needed momentum to the Leave campaign, while also stoking talk of a civil war within the Conservative party that could ultimately end in Johnson and Gove leading a coup.
Johnson has previously rated his chances of being Prime Minister as ‘slightly better than those of being decapitated by a Frisbee, blinded by a champagne cork, locked in a disused fridge or reincarnated as an olive’. And Purnell believes it will take a huge slice of luck for Johnson’s Machiavellian master plan to give him everything he desires.
“He is blessed with immense charisma, wit, sex appeal and celebrity gold dust; he is also recognised and loved by millions — although perhaps less so by many who have had to work closely with him (let alone depend on him). Resourceful, cunning and strategic, he can pull off serious political coups when the greater good happens to coincide with his personal advantage, but these aspirations are rarely backed up by concrete achievements, or even detailed plans,” she wrote.
In the past, Johnson has furthered his career by choosing his opponents and challenges wisely, but by gambling his political future on a ‘Brexit’ he will now have to face obstacles that won’t be brushed aside as easily as a 10-year-old Japanese boy at a rugby PR event. We will soon find out whether Boris is up to the challenge or if he is — as he has shown on the sports field — merely a flat-track bully.
Martin Downer is a freelance journalist based in the UK
