During a recent private Zoom meeting with Tory MPs Boris Johnson said that “greed” and “capitalism” had helped the UK’s vaccine success.
Regardless of his “regret” for making the comment and repeated appeals to “forget” what he said, does this type of political dilettantism erode not only the authority of Prime Minister but also of the party that he represents?
Allegedly, the comment was directed partly towards Mark Spencer who was appointed Government Chief Whip by the Prime Minister in 2019.
Johnson’s comment was intended to praise Big Pharma – in the form of AstraZeneca – for the free-market impetus it harnessed to develop a vaccine so quickly. But according to Laura Kuenssberg he was at the same time mocking Spencer – known as “Big Farmer” because of his farming background – “who was gobbling his cheese and pickle…”.
Surely this kind of banter between mates can’t cause any harm, no matter whether directed at Big Pharma or the Big Farmer. It is said that a sense of humor makes life easier, but too much of it can have the opposite effect, especially in politics.
Moreover, these are sensitive times. The European Union and the UK are still haggling over the possibility of those export restrictions which Ursula von der Leyen threatened AstraZeneca with.
The Prime Minister’s reaction so far has mixed threats of “retaliation” with the political courtesy of offering to share millions of doses of the vaccine as made by the Dutch firm Halix.
This type of inconsistency is becoming more apparent the longer Johnson is in power. It is still fresh in our minds how he promised that the UK would exit the EU on “October 31st, come what may”. He did not keep that promise.
Then there was the complete capitulation to Brussels over the Brexit fishing deal. The Europeans still fish in Britain’s waters freely and we still do not have full autonomy over our seas.
We’ve also got six new hospitals instead of the 40 promised. And the latest assurance he is unlikely to keep is the one that COVID restrictions are being eased “once and for all”.
Perhaps the situation is at least under control for the moment, if our head of state can find time to joke around so light-heartedly.
Putting down the vaccine success to “greed” might well give wrong signals to our European neighbours, some of who think the UK’s achievement – around 50% of its adult population vaccinated so far – is indeed down to “greed” over the vaccines.
But as the inconsistencies already mentioned show, Johnson is also capable of giving ground. That can either be seen as caving in (weak) or magnanimous (strong). I wonder which one the Russians will go for.
They christened Maggie Thatcher as the “Iron Lady” – a nom de guerre that befits a leader – so let’s hope they come up with an equally fearsome name for Boris.
Hopefully the politicians in Brussels don’t mind Johnson’s witty sense of humor. Some would argue that he has always been known for his love of colorful wording given his early career as a journalist. However, the work of a political columnist is not quite the same as that of the head of the government.
“Any cook can run the state”, Lenin once declaimed. But for the same to apply to “any journalist”, social mobility would only be served if the journalist running our state had not gone to Eton and Oxford.
Perhaps it’s that privilege that makes Johnson think he can get away with exhibiting his wit so shamelessly. Or maybe it’s just an old habit of a columnist.
Either way one thing is clear – there is no place in politics for such verbal exhibitionism.