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“The beauty and riddle in studying the motives of any politician is in trying to decide what is idealism and what is self-interest, and often we are left to conclude that the answer is a mixture of the two” — Boris Johnson
On Wednesday, July 20, 2022, United Kingdom’s outgoing Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, during the Prime Minister Question Time thanked the country, members of parliament and supporters and said goodbye to the parliament and the best job in the world he loved so much. While making his valedictory speech, Johnson told a tense UK parliament, “we have helped, I have helped to get the country through a pandemic and save another country from barbarism. And frankly, that’s enough to be going on with. And largely mission accomplished,” he said. “I want to thank everybody here and hasta la vista, baby,” he thundered, facing the exit.
After three years of turbulence and rancorous premiership, Johnson will be leaving behind the most audacious political battle and victory in Brexit. So much so that Johnson’s dogged electoral campaign enabling the UK to exit the European Union and its effectuate success is one of the world’s most incomprehensible historical events in recent times. The other being Donald Trump’s victory in the 2016 United States presidential race. Researchers and historians have tagged the two epochal events as the battle of the globalists versus nationalists—sort of an insurrection of populism. As a political savvy Oxbridge, Johnson also showed that he is capable of delivering electoral victories to the Conservative Party —the Tories. And he did that in all ramifications.
On his path towards becoming UK PM, and in his heart of heart, Johnson wanted Britain to return to its global empire status, rather than tag along with the Habermasian lure of technocracy and globalisation in Brussels. He wanted no intrusion but had the conviction that UK parliament should be the only legislative body legislating for the country. And the decisions of Britons stay with them but not torpedo by Brussels. He wanted an independent Britain with all the layers of power, unobstructed and obfuscated by global institutions that EU and Brussels afforded.
Back in 10 Downing Street, Johnson was more focused on wrestling Covid-19, fixing the economy, repositioning the UK as a global powerhouse both in economic strength and diplomacy. He anticipated Britain at par with America and China’s superpower in global politics. On Russian- Ukraine War, Johnson aligned with the liberal world to prevent authoritarian Russia and the Kremlin from annexing an independent nation—Ukraine. He was at the forefront of the coalition to assist Ukraine to prevent totalitarian states from bullying free states, no matter how weak and less endowed they were.
Unlike the meddlesome interloper David Cameron who connived with then-President Barack Obama and others to foist on Nigeria, a quintessentially clueless regime, thereby ruining the most populous black nation and Africa’s biggest economy, Johnson stayed away from intruding in Nigeria’s internal affairs but instead concentrated on making The Commonwealth, a dependable and respectable socio-political global power block in the English speaking world and beyond. He saw in the Commonwealth, a worthy union of the English-speaking world, a centrifugal force in global power.
On character, observers opined that Johnson led himself to self-destruct. Former Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, said the outgoing PM was an epitome of ‘reputational carnage’ whose antics were more of a “serial disabler’ of rules, even those set by himself, like Covid-19 lockdown. This sort of led to the Party Gate Scandal which took a toll on Johnson’s premiership and regrettably installed trust deficit in the cabinet in the eyes of the public. Dick Leonard in his book, Modern British Prime Ministers from Balfour to Johnson Chronicled those challenges faced by Johnson broadly.
But in all, Johnson lived up to his childhood dream of becoming a king; a Prime Minister who reset global politics with Brexit and fiercely stood up to the vagaries of Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin in Europe.
Beyond his exit today, Boris Johnson also ensured that there was a smooth transition and worked hard to elect Liz Truss as the new UK Prime Minister. Therefore, for Boris, it is not a complete loss. He leaves 10 Downing Street with his head up and in grand style. A classic man from Oxford, who dared to take back power and return it to the real owners. The Conservative Party will surely miss a dogged Campaigner-in-Chief. From Kyiv, London, Mumbai, Abuja, Wellington, Kigali to Abuja, it’s hasta la vista, Boris Johnson!
- Obi, a research fellow, writes from FCT
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