Boris has romped ahead of his rivals for good reason. But is he really up to the top job? | thearticle

Boris Johnson has confounded his critics again by storming to victory in the first round of the Tory leadership race. The man who was said to be unpopular with MPs has already gained enough

of their votes to guarantee a place in the last two, leaving Jeremy Hunt and Michael Gove far behind, with the rest nowhere. It was always likely that this contest would become a coronation,

but Boris could still blow it and he is taking no chances. Is such a risk-averse, buttoned-up approach what the Conservative Party — and, more importantly, the country — want from a Prime

Minister? Much of the appeal of the Boris brand is his swashbuckling persona, which meant that as Mayor of London even those who normally voted for other parties could identify with him. He

is, among other things, the anti-politician’s politician. Shorn of his magic as well as his mop, he could be vulnerable — a Samson who allowed himself one too many Delilahs. Yet the fact

that Boris has made himself boring is further proof that he can achieve the impossible. He may be a chameleon, as his critics allege. What if he is? Is it sound strategy to deny oneself the

tactical flexibility to dodge enemy fire? Boris may be camouflaging his policies now in order to confuse the more formidable foes he will face in Brussels. The others are fighting a battle;

he wants to win the war. On Sunday and Tuesday, the other candidates will be jousting in television debates. So far, Boris has held out against taking part, no doubt on the advice of Sir

Lynton Crosby, the “Wizard of Oz” who has been running his campaign ever since he resigned as Foreign Secretary. Refusing to take Crosby’s advice cost David Cameron a majority in the 2010

election, when the Tory leader ended up with a hung Parliament by letting Nick Clegg upstage him in a TV debate. But the demand that the nation’s leader should be properly tested in public

debate may become irresistible. The impression that the Tories have gone back to the days when a “magic circle” picked the Prime Minister would be disastrous. There is little point in any

commentator offering Boris advice, as Iain Martin does in today’s _Times_. Apart from anything else, he is as wary of his journalistic peers as he is of his political colleagues. In both

cases, he thinks their motives are suspect. He is probably right. Much of the criticism has been vitriolic. Indeed, there has been enough battery acid hurled in his direction to satisfy even

Jo Brand — and that is before he has even entered Downing Street. It is striking how “mainstream” pundits (Rafael Behr, Martin Fletcher, Nick Cohen among them) abandon all restraint on the

subject of a politician who is also mainstream, at any rate by comparison with the extremism of the present Leader of the Opposition. So why should Boris listen to the advice of his own

tribe, who are driven by envy and _Schadenfreude_? More than anybody else in British public life, he is driven by his inner daemon. His faith in his own instincts — which others see as

vanity — has brought him to the brink of power. He is not going to change the habits of a lifetime to please those who have never run anything and long to bring him crashing down. He will

participate in the TV debates if he feels like it — and not if he doesn’t. One of the commonest critiques of Boris is that he makes it up as he goes along. But that is the essence of his

genius. Everything he does is _sui generis _and that makes him hard to beat. Jeremy Vine tells the story of how he hosted an awards ceremony at which Boris was the speaker. He turned up with

no speech and no idea where he was. Vine expected the worst — but Boris’s improvised speech was the best he or the audience had ever heard. Later, Vine found himself in the same

predicament, and Boris went through the same routine all over again. There was method in his madness. But would he get away with it on a national platform, let alone the world stage? We are

about to find out. Johnson will probably have to defeat either Hunt or Gove to win the crown. Both are at least as bright as he is. Hunt has, by common consent, been a more effective Foreign

Secretary. Gove may not be as brilliant an after-dinner speaker, but as a parliamentary orator he is Boris’s superior. Both men have held Cabinet office for much longer and have achieved

considerably more. Either of them could be a competent Prime Minister. Boris, by comparison, requires a leap of faith. But only Boris is a genius. There is no other word for the intangible

quality that he would bring to the job. It might not be enough to get the Tories out of the hole they have dug for themselves. It might not be enough to lead the country into the sunlit

uplands that beckon beyond Brexit. Charisma is never sufficient — but it is necessary. And only Boris has it.