The Conservative party has finally got a leader it deserves. As the UK’s next prime minister, Boris Johnson won’t be able to outrun boring facts and hide from bad publicity. He faces the most daunting challenge – that of how the UK can leave the European Union – on entering No 10 since Winston Churchill in 1940. It is fitting because Mr Johnson is largely responsible for the mess he now has to clear up. The signs are not promising. His pledge that the UK will leave the EU on 31 October “deal or no deal” is as politically expedient as it is destructive. His bravado helped to win the leadership. But it did not unnerve the EU and only hardened opposition within the party. Burning bridges to Europe is an act of arson not statesmanship. Leaving the EU without a deal threatens to wreck the UK economy, break up Britain and rekindle violence on the island of Ireland. No wonder Mr Johnson says he can avoid a hard Brexit, though he can’t say how. He thinks he will be protected from harm if, and when, things go badly wrong. Yet his praetorian guard are from the Tory hard right who, he will find out, prefer to give rather than obey orders. » | Editorial | Tuesday, July 23, 2019
Tuesday, July 23, 2019
The Guardian View on Boris Johnson’s Leadership: The Years of a Clown
The Conservative party has finally got a leader it deserves. As the UK’s next prime minister, Boris Johnson won’t be able to outrun boring facts and hide from bad publicity. He faces the most daunting challenge – that of how the UK can leave the European Union – on entering No 10 since Winston Churchill in 1940. It is fitting because Mr Johnson is largely responsible for the mess he now has to clear up. The signs are not promising. His pledge that the UK will leave the EU on 31 October “deal or no deal” is as politically expedient as it is destructive. His bravado helped to win the leadership. But it did not unnerve the EU and only hardened opposition within the party. Burning bridges to Europe is an act of arson not statesmanship. Leaving the EU without a deal threatens to wreck the UK economy, break up Britain and rekindle violence on the island of Ireland. No wonder Mr Johnson says he can avoid a hard Brexit, though he can’t say how. He thinks he will be protected from harm if, and when, things go badly wrong. Yet his praetorian guard are from the Tory hard right who, he will find out, prefer to give rather than obey orders. » | Editorial | Tuesday, July 23, 2019
