Boris Johnson’s ‘boosterism’ will do nothing to solve the disasters about to beset the nation

Emerging, submarine-like, for a photo op at a Covid-secure cabinet meeting, the nation is reminded of the existence of its prime minister. Those citizens with longer memories will recall the time when Boris Johnson was omnipresent and, if anything, rather “too much of a good thing”, even for his fans.

For some he was the main, if not some, reason the Conservatives won their first comfortable majority since 1987 at last year’s general election. It was, so the legend goes, Mr Johnson who penetrated the “red wall” and seduced ex-Labour voters in the midlands and the north. It was he who “got Brexit done”. It was his unique style of what he calls “boosterism” that delivered personal and political success.

Yet now the going is getting rough, the supposedly tough prime minister hasn’t been getting going very much. Since the cover was blown on his Scottish hideaway, he has been invisible. His svengali, Dominic Cummings, who might be expected to be running things in Mr Johnson’s absence (or even his presence), has been off having a much-postponed operation.

It has not, indeed, been clear who has been in charge during Mr Johnson’s absence, as with when he was in hospital with Covid-19 in the spring. The result? An even higher level of administrative incompetence and incidence of U-turns, with no compensatory Johnsonian vision to raise spirits and distract from unfolding disasters.

Hence the rumblings of discontent as his MPs return to gossip and plot their way through the autumn term. Ungrateful they may be – after all, many owe their seats and ministerial jobs to Mr Johnson’s success last December – but politics has always been a mercenary, thankless business. The Tories being the most unsentimental about getting rid of leaders who have outlived their usefulness.

One use that Mr Johnson did have was as cheerleader in chief for Brexit and boosterism in general. He is not currently fulfilling even that role. As we may see again now and in the succeeding weeks, Mr Johnson is regularly shown up at Prime Minister’s Questions by Sir Keir Starmer. Mr Johnson’s poll lead and that of his party have held up surprisingly well in the circumstances, but their lead over Labour has disappeared. Besides, some of the inclement circumstances faced by the government are mostly of its own making, from the failures on Covid to the exams fiasco. Policies are rushed out before being reversed and the only area where Mr Johnson has held his nerve was in clinging on to Mr Cummings after he broke lockdown rules. More than any other single act, that misguided stubbornness undermined his authority in the parliamentary Conservative Party.

Still, any number of joke-filled, feel-good, patriotic, morale-boosting turns by Mr Johnson will do nothing to solve the disasters about to beset the nation – principally Covid and a no-deal Brexit. Telling us, as he did, that the coronavirus would be “sent packing” had no discernible impact on the troublesome sub-microscopic organism now set on inflicting a second wave of infections. Blaming a “mutant algorithm” for the A-Level, BTech and GCSE mess might have raised a wry smile among those not directly affected, but did nothing for those whose university places were thrown into jeopardy. No doubt we’ll hear much more about the Dunkirk spirit and unleashing Britain’s potential when trade with Europe seizes up in the new year, but it won’t help deliver a single British-made Nissan Qashqai to its European customer.

There are some benefits to be had from having a newspaper columnist as a prime minister and party leader, but in Mr Johnson’s case they are increasingly outweighed by the manifest downsides of amateurishness and flippancy. No wonder his MPs are increasingly looking to Mr Johnson’s chancellor, Rishi Sunak, for an alternative style of political leadership. Boosterism isn’t enough any more, even if it ever was.