Why I won’t be rushing out to snap up a copy of Boris Johnson’s Unleashed autobiography - Andrew Vine
In common with many others here in the north – very possibly a majority – I long ago had a bellyful of that slippery customer without wading through nearly 800 pages of bluster, self-aggrandisement and the crafty rewriting of recent history to portray himself as a wronged man.
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Hide AdThis portrait of a supposed political titan brought down by lesser mortals who failed to appreciate his genius has been only too apparent from the book’s extracts so heavily trailed in advance of this week’s publication.
We’ve learned that our hero considered sending troops to the Netherlands, a friend and ally, to seize supplies of Covid vaccines, that the late Queen Elizabeth in her final days was glad to see him and he almost drowned when swept out to sea on a dinghy bought from Argos.
We’ve also had the declaration that he knew nothing about lockdown-busting parties in Downing Street, despite Parliament concluding he had known and lied to the Commons about them, prompting him to quit as an MP before he could be sanctioned and faced a by-election.
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Hide AdBut if I’m unwilling to line Boris Johnson’s pockets by buying his book, enough people will do otherwise to propel it to the top of the bestsellers’ list.
Whether that should be the fiction or nonfiction list very much depends on your view of Johnson’s relationship with the truth.
It’s a safe bet that his most avid readers will be members of the Conservative Party who have never quite been able to accept that the leader who delivered such a resounding election victory in 2019 turned out to be a charlatan who was utterly unfit for the office of Prime Minister and blew it.
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Hide AdOpinion polls in the two years since he left office have shown significant support remains for him within the party, and there is never-ending speculation that one day he might make a comeback as an MP and be hailed by the faithful as the only man capable of seeing off the electoral threat of Nigel Farage.
The publication of Unleashed can only perpetuate the idea that there could be a second act in the political circus that is Boris Johnson’s career, but that’s a dangerous notion to harbour for his party as it grinds through the process of selecting a new leader to begin the long haul back from the Conservatives’ mauling at this year’s election.
The past cast long shadows across the party’s conference last week. The extracts from Johnson’s book provided a daily narrative reminding Tories of when they held an unassailable majority and enjoyed public trust when Covid hit, at least in the early stages of the crisis.
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Hide AdThen up popped Liz Truss at a packed fringe meeting, not to apologise for wrecking the economy and sending people’s mortgages shooting up, but to insist she’d have led the Conservatives to a better result in July than Rishi Sunak had.
And did any of the four people vying to be party leader have the nous, the appreciation of the public mood shown by the Labour landslide, or the guts to condemn Johnson and Truss for the damage they had caused their country and party? No. Not one of them came even close.
They should. If there is a road back for the Conservatives, however long and tortuous it may prove, whoever next leads the party must face the fact that by the time of the July’s election the country was heartily sick of Tory shenanigans and that is why they were dumped so emphatically from office.
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Hide AdUnless the Conservatives repudiate Johnson and Truss, and apologise for what they did, there will be no convincing voters that the party has changed its ways and is once again fit to govern.
Instead of further enriching Boris Johnson by buying his book or queuing up to hear Liz Truss promote fantasy economics and spout conspiracy theories about her downfall, Conservative members should turn their backs on them.
There can be little prospect of the Conservatives regaining power – or even winning many more seats – at the next election if the party’s members continue to embrace former leaders who proved such dismal failures.
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Hide AdIt is inconceivable that either Johnson or Truss will ever find it within themselves to look the electorate in the eye, from whatever platform they are given, and utter the word, “sorry”.
There is too much to be made from book sales and speaking engagements for that. So the party they wrecked will have to say it for them.
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