We turned up for a decapitation, but in the end, the sword of Damocles remained safely in place.
When I was an A level student Michael Cockerell’s documentaries were the best of revision aids: to watch them was to know everything. A lot of things have gone south since then – the global economy and the novels of Ian McEwan to name but two – and Cockerell’s documentaries are no exception: this was a warm bath and a favourite novel in place of a full cavity search.
What is it about Boris? Tony Blair in his prime had a Teflon quality, but the mayor of London is the Man of Steel, emerging from burning wrecks unscathed and walking away from explosions without a scratch. The decision to cut the 50p rate broke the back of Cameroonism – but Johnson floats a flat tax and no one minds. Less than a decade ago, Boris compared gay marriage to a union between a man and a dog, but only last night, he was praised as more gay-friendly than David Cameron. For every lurch to the right that Cameron has been attacked for, Boris has gone further: but he is stronger and stronger, while Cameron diminishes by the day.
Even Boris’ weaker moments – a stuttering display while under questioning from Eddie Mair – are a sign of strength. For two days, the press was talking about Boris being found out, about him beginning to experience the same level of scrutiny as regular politicians. Now we’re back to talking about whether not he’ll be prime minister one day. He is the only currently active British politician for whom a bad interview is epochal: for all the others, it is everyday.
As far as the Conservative leadership is concerned, it is a question of not if or when but how: Boris will be Cameron’s successor, it’s simply a question of the mechanism. He is the only widely recognised politician with an approval rating above grudging indifference, muted contempt, or resigned disappointment. His only opponents are almost hilariously bland. Comparisons might be drawn between Boris’ ambitions and the fate of his predecessor as the member for Henley: but Michael Heseltine faced a battle for the votes of his parliamentary colleagues: Boris will be fighting the far more winnable ground of the Conservative party at large. It’s impossible to imagine how the likes of Philip Hammond or Theresa May would even be able to compete on the campaign trail.
This might well be his moment: people are worried that government doesn’t work, Boris seeks to prove it. Having been let down by the crash and by Cleggmania, Boris is the perfect antidote: that’s why scandals and reverses don’t leave him in the dust, because Boris doesn’t promise success, only adventure. But that’s the easiest aspect of his appeal for Labour to dissect, and also the most dangerous, because it allows Labour to draw its worst lesson: that people only vote Conservative when they are misled. But Labour neglects the other half at its peril, because, while the matter of the Conservative leadership might be sewn up, the question of whether or not Boris will be prime minister is still an open one.
That same unnamed ambition that saw him stutter and stagger on Sunday morning is a feature, not a bug. It’s not his shambolic libertarianism that clinches the deal: it’s that single-minded focus on the prize. Nick Hornby once wrote that there is nothing more irresistible than someone who finds you irresistible: and Boris’ insistence that there is no better job than to run the country has an appeal of its own, particularly when set against the Eeyorism of David Cameron or Ed Miliband’s insistence that the last three decades have been one of unalloyed neoliberal misery. Boris’ appeal is in his belief in a better tomorrow: to combat him, Labour will have to find one of its own.
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Stephen Bush writes a weekly column for Progress, the Tuesday review, and tweets @stephenkb
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