1/ For Boris Johnson’s eight years at City Hall, it was my job to watch him carefully and, frankly, hurt him. First for the Leader of the Labour Group, then as organiser of Mayor’s Question Time for the Group. Here’s a couple of things I learned, which will help Starmer at PMQs.
2/ Boris Johnson is lazy, but very able. In his own way, and when he hits his stride, he’s a phenomenal performer. If you underestimate that, he will hurt you.
3/ If you fight him on his terms, he will beat you. Do not attempt to adopt his manner; do not attempt to lampoon the aspects of his character that the public like; do not overdo the humour. He’s the best at what he does. Grandstanding.
4/ Do go hard on detail (Starmer’s team are onto this and are using his skills to great effect). In eight years at City Hall, Boris never tried to up his game once on this respect but...see 8.
5/ Do not allow him to bluster. Use closed questions where possible. Allow the gaping silences to *be* the Leader of the Opposition sometimes. The public will draw their own conclusions.
6/ Implicate him personally in his decisions as Prime Minister. Question his character and integrity. Boris needs love and approbation. When he feels you’re threatening that, it enrages him and impacts upon his performance.
7/ Maintain the high ground without being stereotypically po-faced Labour, which he finds very easy to caricature.
8/ Expect the unexpected. Switch up your style and expect him to change his. He does not have a record of this, but I’m convinced he *can* do it. He’s much more self-aware than people think. This, combined with his strong sense of competition, makes him a dangerous opponent.
9/ Do have top lines to hand *with full source notes*. He has zero problem with misleading people. His next tactic will be not to reject Starmer’s claims outright, but to seed doubts about them. Starmer needs a secondary data set/source to hand. Two punch combination.
10/ @tomcopley was Labour’s best performer at MQT. Len and Jeannette were effective with Boris, too, because he struggles with with authentic working class and strong female politicians. LOTO should give them a call.
