Boris Johnson’s tactic to become Britain’s next prime minister is to avoid journalists and the public so he doesn’t say anything stupid that ruins his chances. And hardly anyone appears to be angered by this.
Look, I don’t judge Boris for wanting to be leader. The perks are excellent; central London pad and a place in the country, driver, mobile phone and guaranteed retirement at Goldman Sachs – who wouldn’t want the job?
It’s his advisers and supporters that history should judge, because in defense of Boris, he has spent the last few years publicly demonstrating how unsuitable he is to be prime minister, so if anyone still wants to vote for him, then the blame doesn’t lie with him.
As we stand, however, Boris replacing Theresa May looks as inevitable as death and taxes (at least under Boris the taxes will be less).
Nothing quite demands the suspension of disbelief like the current race to become the next leader of Britain’s Conservative Party, which currently brings with it the default perk of becoming prime minister.
One of the most popular tactics used so far by hopeful candidates is to offer eye-watering tax cuts to whet the appetite and wet the pants of the tiny cohort of aging wealthy types that will have the final say on who will win.
These are the kinds of promises which will be conveniently forgotten once anyone under the age of 70 who doesn’t have membership of a golf course gets to vote in a general election. Tax cuts for the wealthy are pretty hard to sell to anyone beyond those who will benefit.
So we’re left in a place where a truly miniscule section of society will be choosing the next national leader. At most, 160,000 Tory members will decide who gets to move in to Downing Street next, that’s about 0.3 percent of the voting-age population.
So the likelihood is that Boris will be Britain’s next man at the helm and we’ll be stuck with him for a couple of years. I hope there’s not a war, no one wants to see him find out just how much he isn’t Winston Churchill.