The toxicity of Boris Johnson
No one’s reputation could survive contact with the prime minister
Every good disaster movie has a scene in which the characters realise that they are in mortal peril, that the threat they all fear is much closer than anyone had thought. The shark is in the water, the caller is in the house, the virus is airborne. Footage of a cabinet meeting on July 5th—taken before the watershed resignations of Rishi Sunak, the chancellor of the exchequer, and Sajid Javid, the health secretary—provided an equivalent moment in Westminster’s current horror show. The faces of Britain’s most senior politicians are ashen, the mood is palpably grim. A deadly toxin menaces them and their party, and it is chairing the meeting.
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “The toxicity of Boris Johnson”
Britain July 9th 2022
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- The toxicity of Boris Johnson
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