Thread by @MatthewdAncona

Here’s what’s happening, then. Pretty much everyone has decided that Boris Johnson is going to win, and the numbers so far certainly support that conclusion. However, this is leading to some pretty shabby and/or intellectually lazy stuff. 1/

First up, it isn’t really that persuasive to refer exclusively to Johnson’s mayoral record as his credentials - as if his subsequent conduct during the Leave campaign, as Foreign Secretary and a Bannonite polemicist were all incidental. 2/

This is like saying what a nice guy Stalin was at the seminary (not literally, calm down). Sorry, guys, but you don’t get to erase the lies on the bus, the burqa-bashing and the ‘fuck business’ stuff just because it’s inconvenient. 3/

Also hearing some familiar Trump lines from 2016: ‘He’ll pivot to the mainstream in office’; ‘He’ll surround himself with competent people who can be trusted with nuclear codes’; ‘He’ll bring in a wide range of talent’. How’s that working out in the US? 4/

Also: the precise counterpart to Corbyn’s magic money tree is Johnson’s magic negotiating plan. Vim, brio, confidence, roaring lions: it’s like a bad pep talk to the rugby third team. Brussels really is not dreading the prospect of Mr Sexy Churchill. 5/

London is the home of the reversible portrait, the gathering point of Vicars of Bray, the capital city of expediency. The very elite that Johnson claims to despise is now performing intellectual gymnastics to explain why he might actually be ok. Spineless 6/

So buckle up for a few ghastly months of Boris-mania. It’s going to be grim, and there’s going to be a LOT of gloating. Expect plenty of polls showing he is the Tory messiah (remember when May had numbers like that?) 7/

But stick, as ever, to first principles. The slogan-led populism that Johnson peddles is answer to nothing more than the promptings of his ego. When he’s long gone, this will still be a pluralist, diverse nation facing the challenges of the century 8/

Technological revolution; climate emergency; the inequities of globalisation; longevity; refugee crises and much more. Problems that will take much more than a combination of nativism, applause-line rhetoric and sheer chutzpah to solve 10/

So: wait for the infantile storm to pass. Stay frosty. Remember we are citizens not the audience in a political reality show. And that - when he’s long gone, to do his chat show and write many memoirs - we’ll still be here to begin the real work. ENDS