In his relaunch, Boris Johnson should follow Emmanuel Macron’s example

Will the real Boris Johnson step forward now, please? Unfortunately, he can’t. With impeccable tragicomic timing, what might have been the decisive turning point of his premiership has been

interrupted by the necessity of self-isolation in obedience to rules that our most theatrical Prime Minister himself laid down. Not for the first time, Boris has been hoist by his own

petard.

Nevertheless, last week’s moment of high drama — the defenestration of Dominic Cummings and Lee Cain — has set in motion a process that has its own logic. If Boris Johnson is no longer to be

defined by the men who made possible his seizure of power, then how will he redefine himself? Because redefine himself he must. Necessity is the mother of reinvention.

The most obvious answer is to revert to the persona he created for himself as Mayor of London. Indeed, it is reported that this is what Allegra Stratton, Munira Mirza and Carrie Symonds —

the trio of women who triumphed on the Night of the Long Stilettos — are demanding. Ms Mirza, indeed, was a key member of the Johnsonian mayoral entourage who, along with the acting chief of

staff Eddie Lister (now Lord Udnay-Lister), made the transition from City Hall to Downing Street. The municipal success of Boris Mark I made possible the re-election of a Tory mayor in a

capital that stayed loyal to Labour even in last year’s Conservative landslide.

That very fact, however, points to the reason why reverting to Boris Mark I won’t work. The electoral landscape has been transformed by what amounts to a political earthquake since 2015: by

Brexit and its vicissitudes, by the rise and fall of Corbynism, by Covid-19 and the accompanying economic crisis. One of the few facts on the ground that has become ever clearer amid the

shocks and aftershocks of this period of almost unprecedented upheaval is that London, like most other metropolitan areas, has been lost to the Tories. Their future lies in consolidating

their gains in the former “Red Wall” industrial regions. But as Peter Kellner explained last week, the swing back to Labour in these seats is greater than elsewhere. The precariousness of

the Conservative hold on the disillusioned lifelong Labour vote cannot be exaggerated. 

This is why the persona of the Prime Minister matters so much in British politics. It is not about “populism”; it is about popularity. For some months now, he has been less popular than his

party. In the past, this might not have mattered so much. The 13 years of opposition, 1997-2010, and the débacle of Theresa May’s brief premiership, however, have demonstrated that the Tory

party struggles to win a majority without a leader with wide popular appeal. That is the main reason — perhaps the only reason — why the party gambled on the charismatic Boris Johnson rather

than the more technocratic Jeremy Hunt in the leadership election less than 18 months ago.

How, though, can a Prime Minister who was chosen for his popularity but who has made himself unpopular reverse his own and his party’s fortunes? Despite the ravages of coronavirus, Boris

Johnson has not lost his charisma. He can still electrify a room or steal the show, bring a smile to the lips or a tear to the eyes. But charisma is not enough. There must be something solid

to be sprinkled with magic dust. Where are the achievements on which to build, the battles won and obstacles removed, the hope of better things to come? Relaunching a government in the

midst of a pandemic is like relaunching a ship while at sea in a storm. 

Most old hands would say: it can’t be done. Yet Johnson could do worse than glance across the Channel for a model of how it has been done. Exactly two years ago, on 17 November 2018,

Emmanuel Macron’s popularity nosedived when the Gilet Jaune (Yellow Vest) movement began its mass demonstrations, which quickly turned violent. By December, Macron’s presidency was in

crisis, as polls showed 75 per cent support for the protestors. The President made a television address that was watched by a record 23 million people, in which he declared a state of

emergency and promised a rise in the minimum wage. Later, after the violence had subsided, he embarked on a “town hall” tour of France over a period of months. This listening exercise was

much mocked at the time, but proved to be the catalyst for a revival of Macron’s popularity. He was no longer seen as an arrogant and elitist énarque, but as a leader who responded to

criticism.

Now Macron has reinvented himself again, this time as a warrior. His response to a series of attacks by Islamist terrorists has given him a new image as the defender of the Republic and its

secularist values. The new war on terror has a European dimension, too. For the moment, at least, Marine Le Pen and other rivals have nothing to say. The ghettoisation of Muslims in French

society that neither Gaullist nor Socialist presidents could overcome is now Macron’s priority. He has a war, a cause and an enemy.

Boris Johnson needs all three, too. How he identifies and articulates his struggle will determine whether he can recover his popularity. Slaying the dragon of the far-Left is no longer his

job: Sir Keir Starmer is doing that for him. Defeating the pandemic won’t be enough: the boffins will get the lion’s share of the credit for that, as indeed they should. He has already

declared victory in Brexit; it may prove to be a Pyrrhic one. 

While he was in City Hall, however, his greatest success was in fighting crime. He could do worse than to make that a high priority again, at least while he is contemplating new fields to

conquer. And he could take a leaf out of Macron’s book by embarking on a listening tour of town halls — not as a publicity stunt, but as a genuine attempt to escape the Downing Street bunker

and hear what people have to say. He might, for instance, rethink the appalling HS2 project, which is driving a mile-wide bulldozer across England.  Boris Mark II must be jettisoned: that

much is clear. Turning the clock back to Boris Mark I is not an option. By the time he re-emerges from enforced isolation, the nation will need at least a glimpse of Boris Mark III. And this

time it had better be something we have never seen before. 

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