In one election Boris Johnson has been transformed; from celebrity chancer to the most dominant politician since Tony Blair. But who is he? What drives him? How does he govern? And what lies behind his appeal? Over the last six months I’ve tried to answer these questions 1/8
First, the man. Here is somebody everyone knows but few *know*, a celebrity and a loner whose character was forged in adolescent tragedy. I profiled the man—and the mask—in July as he fulfilled his lifelong dream to be PM 2/8 theatlantic.com/international/…
Second, the politician. Perennially underestimated, dismissed as unfit for high office, how does he keep stumbling up hill, becoming more powerful each time? Turns out he’s good at politics. In Oct I asked if he was winning. Seems he was (for now) 3/8 theatlantic.com/international/…
Third, the statesman. Within a few months of taking office, Johnson had renegotiated—and radicalised—Brexit, struck a grand bargain with Dublin, put a border in the Irish Sea *and* won a Commons majority for it. How? I profiled how the deal was done 4/8 theatlantic.com/international/…
Finally, the election winner. Johnson had the same cards as May, but by playing them differently, did what she couldn’t and won. How? I returned to Sedgefield, where Blair built his legacy and Boris crushed it, to find out 5/8 theatlantic.com/international/…
Conclusion I: “To win this election, the Conservative Party needed Johnson, but he could not have won without Brexit, and Brexit could not have happened without him.” Johnson has remade Britain, regardless of whether he meant to—or whether he’s prepared for what that means 6/8
Conclusion II: “What he inherits as he reenters No.10, is a series of problems that personality alone cannot solve: from the trade-offs inherent in Britain’s post-Brexit relationship with Europe to the future viability of the Conservatives’ new electoral coalition.” 7/8
Conclusion III: “None of these challenges is insurmountable, but they do require Johnson to be as effective with power as he has been at getting it. As with Brexit, today’s triumph is the end of the beginning of the story, not the end in itself.” 8/ends
