Amber Rudd: Boris’s split personality is revealed in his memoirs: he is more Beano than Gladstone

HHaving once said that Boris was the life and soul of the party, but that he was not safe in taxis, I have to say that after reading his memoirs, he is not safe either. security behind a keyboard. That is, if you are looking for truth, integrity, seriousness and depth in a politician, let alone a Prime Minister.

His new memoir, Unchainedit’s Billy Bunter let loose in Westminster with his endless whoos, biffs and sockeroos. Is Boris a serious writer, a chronicler of the Covid years, an eyewitness to some of the most difficult and troubled periods in our islands’ history? No, he’s more Beano or Dandy than Gladstone or even Rory Stewart. Farce rather than reality seems to be his preferred mode of travel. It is a book with two voices, the grandiloquent caricature of Boris and that of the calm, quiet and calculating Boris. Some will say that this perfectly reflects the two-faced Janus of Boris Johnson, a classic allusion that he will understand better than anyone, even if he does not appreciate it.

But Boris has always had a split personality. After all, he wrote two essays, one arguing for Britain to leave the EU and the other for us to stay. It was divided, pulled in opposite directions, but not for the reasons you might expect. He wondered what would serve him best. And it has always been this way.

Sitting opposite Boris in the office, I wanted to hold up a mirror to him. Did he realize the terrible faces he made when Theresa May, then Prime Minister, spoke? This face that he adopts with amused determination, the shoulders hunched, the eyebrows furrowed, the mouth pursed as if he were preparing for an assault or a charge? No one holds this pose for long and when he forgot to hold it, his gaze would settle into the innocent image covering the front of her face. Unchained…But it didn’t take long for Boris’s classic face to return.

The first version is this caricature of himself, this exaggerated performance that makes him almost insatirable. You’ll remember him for his speeches filled with explosive language and absurd imagery, which is what made him such a memorable speaker and, for a time, such an unstoppable force. The second voice is in a much calmer, emotionally involved tone, whose gentle concern almost makes one believe in his desire to do good. That’s almost the key word here.

What’s most interesting is when he chooses to use both versions throughout the book and at the end you’re left wondering which is real and which is performance. Fame or infamy? Family man or unfaithful thug? Courageous or calamitous? We still wonder who the real Boris is. And if a real Boris exists. We discover a man whose mission never goes beyond boosting not the economy, for which the term was coined, but boosting Boris himself.

Unsurprisingly, Boris’s early, almost parodic voice is clearest in his chapters on Brexit. Boris undoubtedly and inevitably presents himself as the hero of Brexit. He revels in his own dazzling genius, the simplicity of his campaign, his crude but effective language and the brilliant clarity of his message. And he ridicules the Remain campaign, which had everything except the one thing you really need: they lacked conviction. What the hell did he think we were all doing? Campaigning so hard that it put political careers, not to mention friendships, on the line. bus with a slogan to sell it. And he would have a slogan that wouldn’t be ridiculed because it was full of fancy facts.

While the exuberant and defiant Boris remembers these years as if they were a personal military triumph for his country, this jubilant joy of victory comes to a shocking, screaming halt as the victory fades. ‘sinks. Let me make this clear: In a memoir designed to cement his legacy, it is clear that he had no plan other than to get a medal for winning. The horror of his justification that he had no idea how to proceed once he had convinced the country to follow him out of Europe might test the patience of readers who do not were not supporters of Brexit. no plan for government…negotiating…it is utterly infuriating that we are being blamed.

If politics were a happy game without consequences, his story would be entertaining. But as someone who spent so long screaming that he had no plan to win, it’s shocking to see that spelled out so clearly and unapologetically. Sangfroid is served even colder than how David Cameron felt towards Boris when he was betrayed over Brexit. We learn that he was led to believe that Boris would support him, then made mafia threats when Boris committed his inevitable betrayal.

Boris’s second voice, and unsurprisingly the version I prefer, appears in chapters like Boris the Mayor of London. Here, his tone is full of quiet determination for causes such as reducing knife crime and improving transport. His description of staying up at night, his messages with his deputy mayor Kit Malthouse and the implementation of measures to reduce murders in the capital are moving. And his love for London shines through powerfully.

The chapter about the 2012 Olympics happening despite the mishaps is amusing. Followed in quick succession by the London riots and the effectiveness of the police in stopping them. He is referring to his purchase of water cannons in Germany whose use was blocked by Theresa May, to whom he is referring. as still doing his liberal thing, an unusual description for this particular former interior minister.

But no matter which side of Boris he defends, it’s clear that he still sees himself as the main character and the driving force behind everything (at least everything successful), so much so that throughout this book, he barely recognizes the other senior politicians around him. . The exception is Theresa May, whom he constantly and casually denigrates. His physical descriptions of his nostrils still reek of misogyny, a setback for the man who considers himself something of a success with women.

In his description of the government’s handling of the March 2018 Skripal poisoning, according to his book, Boriss responded only in a controlled and targeted manner. Not true. As someone who chaired the Cobra meetings during this period, I can clarify that it was in fact Theresa May’s leadership and unwavering determination that was the real guiding force during this period. And when it comes to getting the Americans to agree to expel 60 Russian officials in solidarity, while Boris wouldn’t know it, the credit actually goes to our then ambassador, Sir Kim Darroch.

Darroch’s career is one of a long list of people whose careers ended after becoming close to Boris. Dominic Cummings (described as a homicidal robot in the book by Boris who regrets not having fired him). Lee Cain, his spokesperson. Even Owen Paterson, inadvertently, and Richard Sharp. Many loved his good nature, but they all forget what Sigmund Freud said: there are no jokes. Boris has always been the joker but, as he likes comic effects, he perhaps remembers that. that in Batman, the prankster was the assassin.

As an outspoken One Nation Tory, Boris transformed Britain into two nations at war with the Remain and Leave tribes, a civil war this time without muskets. He also blew up the Conservative Party twice. Once with the Brexit saga and secondly during his time as Prime Minister during which he was threatened with a vote of no confidence to remove him from Number 10.

There are also some notable absences in this 700-page book. Cummings in particular, who only appears on page 227. The audience was all painfully aware of Boris’s dependence on his fixer and the extent of his power, and yet here he is hardly more than a footnote to his boss. It was Cummings who gave the Prime Minister the confidence and strategy to see Brexit through, expel MPs who opposed him, make commitments he could not keep and call a general election in 2019 .

During my brief period as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, I attended regular Cobra meetings in preparation for a no-deal deal and witnessed Cummings’ key role; the way he showcased his power by arriving when he wanted and being fired by the president. But rather than berate him and dedicate precious pages to him, it makes sense that for Boris, a character who so loves attention, the biggest insult would be to give him as little airtime as possible. He simply notes that when Cummings left, it was as if a great weight had been lifted.

Ultimately, although this book seems to champion one cause after another, the only cause that really matters is the Boris brand. He is a master at explaining his truth but seems uninterested in the actual truth. Boris is a great performer, even on paper, which makes the show very entertaining. (My favorite part is when what he calls his cockroach invincibility is finally crushed.) Many people, myself included, have called him a liar, but now I wonder if, when he s Taking credit for others’ successes or grossly simplifying his own is either outright dishonesty or he’s just delusional and genuinely remembers it that way.

I still don’t know which side of Boris is the real him. The Boris who seriously came close to death during Covid, or the Boris who considered invading Holland to steal our vaccines? I tend to believe that there is no real Boris, that he has simply become a representation of himself, fully believing that he is the main character and hero of each tale.

Even when you spoke to Boris in person, you never knew who you would talk to, but when he goes home and takes off his mask, whose version is left? The caricature orator or thoughtful statesman. Does he even know? Or is he, like Janus, actually in both versions, and happy to choose the mask that best suits the audience of the moment?