The most underrated of all political virtues is resilience. It is not easy to reach the top.
You must be able to persevere when things are not going your way, keep moving when people start to mock you and drag yourself into the arena when it seems impossible to survive. You must be a fighter.
At his hangdog nadir last week — that interview with Sky News’ Beth Rigby — Boris Johnson didn’t look like anybody’s idea of a fighter.
Boris Johnson as seen in 2019. Boris Johnson pictured in 2019.
The next day, he was even more rumbustious at PMQs. He is still in the ring, bruised and battered, but somehow still breathing.
Even though things may seem bleak, it seems far too early to write his political funeral.
Johnson’s life is littered by remarkable comebacks. But history also has many prime ministers that seemed lost beyond repair, only to triumph over their fate.
To see how rapidly things change, one only has to take a look back at recent events.
David Cameron’s Conservatives had only 29% of the vote a decade ago. This was 12 percent less than Ed Miliband’s Labour.
The Tories thought victory was impossible. But by 2015, Cameron had returned to Downing Street as a victorious winner.
Margaret Thatcher, who made a remarkable comeback during the 1980s, is perhaps the best example.
Today, we recall the Iron Lady’s three-time victory in elections. In 1981’s final months, however, it seemed unlikely that anything would have been less probable.
The economy was in turmoil and unemployment at its peak, and so the Tories fell to third place in the polls behind Labour and SDP-Liberal Alliance.
Margaret Thatcher, who made a remarkable comeback (pictured), in the beginning of the 1980s, is the best example.
One in four respondents said Mrs Thatcher performed well, which is the lowest number for any prime Minister in history.
Gallup revealed that only 18% approved of the government and just 13% predicted the Tories would win the next election.
Even though Mrs Thatcher’s backbenchers tried to get rid of her, she continued on. What followed was an economic recovery and victory in Falklands War. We also know that there was a devastating electoral landslide of 1983.
Boris and Maggie couldn’t be more opposites as political figures. However, what can he draw from the 40-year-old comeback of Maggie?
Most importantly, he must start to tell the truth. This is a very realistic goal, though there are always possibilities.
No matter what else Mrs Thatcher’s critics may have said, they didn’t accuse her of being dishonest. Everyone knew that she meant everything she said.
Boris is often criticized for not being able to tell them exactly where they were standing with her.
He must get rid of all these lockdown parties if he is to keep his place in Downing Street.
We should hear the whole story. He should properly apologize and pile himself up with sackcloth, ashes, etc.
The second is that it’s obvious now that Johnson’s No10 operation has been a total disaster.
The leaked photos of the parties show that the country is being managed by a group of chinless wonders barely out of their teens. It looks a lot like a mix of Brideshead Revisited’s cast and Scooby-Doo.
He has to eliminate all of these people if he hopes to live long enough.
He needs an experienced, tough chief of staff that knows how Whitehall and Westminster work.
The third is to assemble his Cabinet. The absurdity of it all is that ministers, despite Brexit and other challenges, are being rewarded more for loyalty than for the record of achievements.
Why are Jeremy Hunt and his ten-year tenure as a senior minister, the longest-serving health secretary of all time, still sitting on the backbenches after a decade?
What is the point of Penny Mordaunt (a former defense secretary, long considered one of the Tories’ brightest talents) not being in the Cabinet?
It is obvious that Johnson is afraid of them. This is a bad thing. Was Mrs Thatcher frightened of Michael Heseltine, Douglas Hurd or Ken Clarke — all of whom often disagreed with her?
No. There are many talented and effective Tory staffers, believe it or not.
Winston Churchill gives his V for Victory sign in April 1945 outside 10 Downing Street
They might even challenge the PM from time to time. However, that is how to get decent government and not hiding in an echo chamber.
Let me now tell you my fourth lesson. The key to Mrs Thatcher’s turnaround was her positive and plausible stories.
Her explanation was that she was unassailably dedicated to the rebuilding of the country’s economic system after the ruinous 1970s. The benefits would soon be apparent, as she said.
What’s Boris’s equivalent? It’s obvious. The answer is obvious. We have a remarkable record in vaccinations, and our economy continues to grow at an incredible pace. This makes us emerge from the pandemic sooner than any other country. This message must be spread.
Giving people reasons to laugh will eventually make them forget about scandals almost two-years old.
It’s not enough to tell a story. So — fifth — he desperately needs to show tangible, concrete, everyday results.
It’s not enough to talk about building homes. It is important to have bricks and mortar. Promise lower taxes in future. Get them lower today.
From the summer 2020, an email chain will not decide which candidate is elected to represent them next. In the coming two years, it will be determined by bread-and butter concerns: The prices of goods, how much people earn, their impact on their energy bills and even their street potholes.
‘Delivery, delivery, delivery.’ This must be our mantra. And there’s one more thing — in some ways, the most important of all. Don’t panic.
Governments are often doomed by spiralling panic. It’s easy to get lost in the chaos as leaders and rivals become more skilled at sharpening their knives.
But even in their darkest hours — Churchill in 1940, Thatcher in 1981 — our greatest leaders kept calm. Like Johnson, they understood that fortunes can quickly change.
After the humiliation at Suez, the Tories had a crushing majority. The recession in the early 1980s did not affect Mrs Thatcher’s victory. Tony Blair won even after the failure of Iraq.
Boris Johnson should be written off. There is no way. He can make it work with a little honesty and humility.
It’s easier said than done. From here, I already can hear the incredulity. Honesty? Discipline? Are we still talking Boris?
Still, miracles do happen. There is one man in Westminster that can defy the political gravity. He’s that bloodied, battered figure who clings desperately to his historical place.