Boris Johnson’s crushing election victory puts him in the same league of conquering party heroes as Margaret Thatcher
THE extraordinary scale of Boris Johnson’s win has massive ramifications for how he will govern Britain for the next five years.
The Prime Minister fought a presidential campaign, with the rest of the Cabinet almost invisible for much of the time.
Defeat would have fallen on his shoulders alone, and victory will be borne aloft on them too now – because in the Conservative Party, nothing succeeds like success.
As a brand, he has won back his old moniker of the Heineken politician, reaching parts of the country that others cannot ever touch.
As party leader, the eccentric 55-year-old Etonian is now all-powerful. The repeated leadership challenges that have dogged the last two years are now a thing of the past for the Conservative Party, at least for some while.
Boris now enters the same Premier League of conquering party heroes as Margaret Thatcher in her 1980s heyday, easily surpassing both David Cameron and John Major’s small majorities in 1992 and 2015.
As PM, that means he can hire or fire whoever he wants from his Cabinet. Expect a substantial reshuffle in January, with the troublesome likes of Andrea Leadsom, Gavin Williamson and Julian Smith all swiftly consigned to the backbenches.
THE BORIS BREXIT
Crucially, it liberates his hand on Brexit. Boris’s Brexit bill will now sail through the Commons unamended in January, as no Tory MP will contemplate rebellion, guaranteeing the UK’s EU exit on January 31.
More importantly for 2020, he now has a total free hand to negotiate the future arrangement he wants with the EU, that might also mean taking a little longer than his promise of 11 months by the end of next year.
The PM’s close aides have lived in fear of a small majority leaving Boris again at the mercy of the Eurosceptic Tory hardliners of the ERG.
So expect a slightly softer Brexit, with deep security cooperation — even if overseen by euro judges — and more regulatory alignment than he had planned before in exchange for better access to the EU’s markets.
WORKINGTON MAN'S MAN
On domestic policy, we will soon also see the real Boris Johnson stand up.
At various stages of his career, Boris has professed to be both a small state tax cutter as well as a big spending One Nation expansionist.
Holding on to his brand new coalition of former Labour voters in the north will dictate much of what he now does in No10. There is a big electoral debt to repay.
Tax cuts for high earners will go into the deep freeze, to be replaced by state splurges, especially on infrastructure in the north – more new roads and electrified train lines.
One major problem he will has is the union. A huge SNP surge in Scotland makes a second Scottish referendum very hard to refuse, and Boris will have to win over a nation that is very sceptical about his English charm.
So how did he do it? Winning over the Leave-backing Labour North was not just about Brexit. It was also about being a human being voters up there can associate with.
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I spent much of the last week in the North East. Painter Rob Scott, 57, at Fergusons Transport, in Washington, Tyne and Wear, summed it up: “Boris seems like an ordinary bloke you could have a drink with. I don’t mind buying.”
What about his colourful sexual past?
“I wish I had his love life,” said Rob.
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