How Boris Johnson can be inspired by Clement Attlee and Margaret Thatcher – Bernard Ingham

Mr Attlee had one great advantage: he was in No 10 by overwhelming demand. The people had had enough of pre-war unemployment and wanted to build something better – Jerusalem, no less. He also had a very experienced team, toughened by wartime office, that brought a new social order and the NHS to Britain.

You could argue he did a great job over his six years in No 10 because, by 1959, Harold Macmillan felt able to tell us we had never had it so good.

Mrs Thatcher probably had the easiest task of the three, blessed, as she was, with an iron will. That was crucial in conquering the Wets in her midst while taming the trade union barons who had lost 128m working days in some 25,000 strikes in the 1970s.

It falls to Boris Johnson to shoulder arguably the toughest challenge yet experienced by a British Prime Minister.

This is not just because of the enormity of the problems on the agenda. He faces much higher expectations, thanks to Mrs Thatcher sorting out the unions and Tony Blair not undoing that work. Entitlement has replaced aspiration. And expectations are not confined to economics.

Too many voters look to government and not themselves to improve the national lot. Moreover, such are the wonders of science and technology that nothing seems to be impossible. Britain’s quarantine success has reinforced the assumption that sooner or later the boffins will come up with something.

At the same time Boris Johnson has probably the least experienced Ministerial team at his disposal in direct contrast to both Attlee and Thatcher.

It could also be argued that temperamentally he is not cut out for the rigours of government. He is broad brush and bullish, given to promising the earth, whereas Attlee and Thatcher were exemplary in their application to detail and control.

We can reasonably forecast that if Boris gets it only half right he will become one of history’s political heroes. This is what he needs to do while redeeming his endless promises to qualify for the accolade:

* Steadily rehabilitate the economy, keeping inflation under tight control, spreading opportunity more evenly across the nation and building “greener” without crippling the consumer and putting the lights out;

* Becoming the world’s greatest free trader post-Brexit without lowering our standards and damaging domestic business and especially farming;

* Presiding over the reform of our social services to integrate health and social care without hammering the taxpayer – and especially pensioners – and bringing new purpose to education at all levels to educate the young instead of indoctrinate them;

* Control immigration without hampering our economy – e.g. harvesting – as record numbers risk their lives to reach our shores seeking freedom with prosperity;

* Crucially enforce a tougher rule of law that ends the relentless rise in crime, corruption of the young and exploitation of the vulnerable without running out of policemen, courts, prisons and probation officers;

* Hold the UK together without resorting to more bribery;

* Use our global reach and Commonwealth connection to counter Chinese and Russian expansionism without coming to blows, spreading the message that only the West enjoys freedom with relative prosperity;

* Amid all the economic constraints make sure we 
can deter Communist ambitions by strengthening our defences and securing a better equipped and more co-operative free 
world without bankrupting 
us.

But Boris’s biggest challenge is himself. It is no use expecting him to look neat and tidy. Nor should he lose his sense of fun, including wrestling with wind- blown umbrellas.

He needs to rein in his ambitions and above all ensure that his Government speaks with one voice.

If he cannot improve its presentation so that it is not forever contradicting itself, he will never rival Attlee or Thatcher.

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