Boris Johnson was a former Foreign Secretary and we had lunch together in an Italian family-run restaurant near the old Spectator office in Bloomsbury.
A bit late, I arrived at the table 20 meters from the entrance. Boris bounded into view 10 minutes later, slightly flushed by his bicycle ride, but as exuberant and happy as ever.
It was obvious that he had an extraordinary star quality. At almost every table between us, diners stood wanting to shake his hand, slap him on the back or pose for selfies — all of which he happily played along with.
Boris Johnson is visiting Huddersfield Train Station (West Yorkshire) to answer your questions on the HS2 Leeds connection.
It took him five minutes to complete the distance, despite being only five miles apart. This place was previously quite quiet and buzzed with excitement.
He asked us whether our sea bass had been frozen or fresh when we placed an order. Momentarily, the waiter seemed a bit puzzled.
One minute later, the owner appeared. The fish had been frozen. However, he said that it was true. He also added that he purchased two fresh bass the morning for himself as well as his wife.
‘One of them, I will cook for you myself,’ he said. Boris worried slightly about what the poor man’s wife was going to eat but managed to overcome his reservations. ‘Superb!’ he said.
Over the next couple of hours, we covered a lot of ground; his exasperation with the hung Parliament, Theresa May’s weakness, the Brexit quagmire.
He hadn’t yet launched his leadership bid, but Mrs May was obviously in his sights and he was anticipating going into the next election as leader.
Equally clear was the fact that Boris had to convince millions of Labour voters to vote for him in order to win a good majority of Commons votes.
He was unable to see the value in inner London because of the Brexit split, but the potential for the Eurosceptic constituents behind the northern Red Wall showed great promise.
These places had voted Labour by reflex — for generations in some cases — but with Jeremy Corbyn and a largely metropolitan clique now in charge, the dial was shifting.
Although the HS2 project has been scaled down, some £96billion will still be spent on the new Integrated Rail Plan, overhauling Inter-City links across the North and Midlands. This sum is staggering and not to be taken lightly.
They saw the Corbynistas as ‘loony Left’ obsessed with issues of identity, unpatriotic and out of touch with the everyday concerns of ordinary families.
However, the question was, could they bring themselves to vote Tory, the party their parents and grandparents had dismissed, in Nye Bevan’s notorious words, as ‘lower than vermin’.
We now have the right answer. I can’t remember whether Boris was already talking about ‘levelling up’ but there was no doubting his enthusiasm for what he saw as his one- nation mission.
Or his sincerity, as I believe. That lunch came back to me this week, as a series of blunders, U-turns and policy shifts saw the Prime Minister’s credibility seriously undermined — especially it seems among Red Wall supporters.
His new North MPs were angered by the torrent of sleaze accusations that followed Owen Paterson’s debacle.
Much is being made about a possible party split between the older Tory MPs and the mostly younger 2019, Red Wall intake. This would be especially concerning second jobs.
While many of the former have become used to supplementing their MPs’ pay with outside earnings, the latter mostly believe taking their Commons salary means they should devote all their time to the job in hand.
Additional divisions, especially in fiscal and economic policies are being created.
The new generation is generally less tolerant to higher spending than the old, even if it results in higher taxes. Traditional Conservatives are opposed to this.
Therefore, the legacy of the 2019 Landslide has left a Parliamentary Party that, although it is strong in numbers is divided on its outlook and purpose.
Boris could have a very difficult time completing this circle by 2024.
Sir Keir Starmer might be boring, insipid and yet another member of North London’s gang. But he is not Jeremy Corbyn — and that is a huge asset.
It is possible that Labour’s leader would win and form government if the Tories fall into internal warfare.
Jill Mortimer was elected the Hartlepool By-Electoral winner earlier in the year. She is the first Tory member to be elected since 1974, when it was established.
Yes, indeed. The PM has to keep his word on uniting the nation and leveling it up.
However, he should also be doing the same for his political party. To be completely transparent, I would like to say that Boris Johnson has been a friend and colleague of mine for almost 30 years. This includes our time working together on The Daily Telegraph.
I don’t claim any special relationship, but we played a bit of tennis and cricket as well as working together back in those days and our paths have crossed a few times since.
He has flaws, God knows. Rackety doesn’t begin to describe aspects of his private life. Rackety has an ingrained habit of believing that everything can be reduced to a joke. He occasionally talks before fully engaging with his brain.
He is a charmer, an intelligent, and wit, who can make others forgive him for his flaws.
Voters have considered his shortcomings and have taken to him warts as well. Bis now.
Some people will not forgive Trump for Brexit. They want him to be destroyed. For proof of this, you can listen to BBC.
However, despite all of their loudness, Boris-haters don’t make up the majority.
They paint him as a buffoon. They’re wrong.
Boris Johnson during a visit at the Network Rail Queens Road Compound, Manchester, last month
While he presents a woosterish, blustering persona, people who label him a fool miss a crucial point. But he’s not really a journalist. His column gets written once a week, but is generally forgotten the following week.
He has the final say and must act accordingly.
I am also, by the way, a Red Waller — by breeding at least. We never imagined we’d become so popular. Growing up in Middlesbrough’s working class family, I didn’t have any idea of what a different class was until I moved away.
My father spent his days at Dorman Long steelworks. This is where I saw the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and many other magnificent Empire structures.
After the war (he joined the Fleet Air Arm soon after his 18th birthday in 1943), he worked at Smith’s Dock and latterly in the vast petrochemical plant at ICI Wilton.
He served as an Amalgamated Engineering Union official for a short time and was a Labour supporter. He was, however, socially conservative like most working-class northerners.
He was a hard worker and had high aspirations for his kids.
Boris Johnson was able to tap into his inherent conservatism and achieve such great success with 2019!
Of course, the industrial North does not consist of one entity.
However, there are some strong uniting factors.
After the strikes and decline of industrial production in 1970s, There were the unavoidable but very scarring Thatcher reforms.
Northern Tory MPs look to Boris for help and they are understandably disappointed that he is being accused of once again over-promising, and not delivering.
Labour’s taunt that his levelling up agenda has fallen at the first hurdle resonates with their constituents.
But they should also recognize some of his accomplishments. He has helped to bring new industries, jobs, and hope to an area once considered deprived by Ben Houchen (Tees Valley Mayor).
Whitehall functions have been moved to North, including the Darlington economic campus where many Treasury employees will be working.
Labour leader Sir Keir starmer (right) visited the Bradford Wholesale market (left), with shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves, and Metro Mayor Tracy Brabin.
Green jobs have seen a substantial increase in North America, and there is more. The North has seen a significant increase in green jobs, with more money being found to revitalize the High Streets.
And although the HS2 project has been scaled down, some £96billion will still be spent on the new Integrated Rail Plan, overhauling Inter-City links across the North and Midlands. This amount is enormous and shouldn’t be ignored.
Red Wall members should also remember they owe their positions in Parliament almost entirely to the PM, without whom most couldn’t have hoped to be elected.
Now they are Tory MPs. They must collaborate with him and not against him. Boris, for his part must be better. This party’s recent suffering was totally avoidable.
Owen Paterson’s affair should not have been allowed to happen.
Following an investigation by a standards commissioner, it was determined that Mr Paterson violated the rules through paid lobbying. After this incident an MP suspension of 30 days in the Commons was recommended.
He would not have forgotten the entire thing if he did his penance silently.
Instead of defending him, the PM came to his rescue (probably without having read the report about his crimes) and whipped the party to back him.
He tried to also destabilise his opponent, the standards commissioner.
However well intentioned, this was a wretched decision which backfired spectacularly and caused his party no end of damage — all self-inflicted.
Another confession. Another confession.
Boris was indeed there. However, if Boris had any type of conspiracy, he kept it very well.
The 32 guests were present. He spent the most time walking around, getting to know his old colleagues and then paused briefly for a short speech.
It was widely misrepresented as an all-male affair, which is a mistake. It wasn’t. A few (albeit small) women were present, and one gave an amazing address.
Charles Moore, an ex-Telegraph editor and paterson apologist is believed to have hosted the event. He didn’t.
Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie attend the Conservative Party Conference 2019 He is alleged to have made cruel remarks about her at the Garrick Club dinner
Most shockingly, Boris is said to have made cruel and disparaging remarks about his wife Carrie, which many allegedly heard and were ‘astonished’ by.
I was sitting six feet away from him and it’s news to me, as it was to several other attendees I have asked about it.
According to the story, the comments were heard by thirty people. This suggests that they must have been made during the speaker’s speech.
The speech was captured by one diner as a souvenir, since it was the age of iPhones. Carrie isn’t even mentioned.
The evening has been characterised by some media outlets as some unreconstructed, port-swilling, Stilton-guzzling, boys’ club extravaganza.
Actually, the reunion was just old friends.
It was chosen for its affordability, while the Garrick house wine equivalent was chosen. No caviar, no cote de boeuf, no Stilton — or indeed any other cheese.
It’s unfortunate that, because Boris was always an outsider, now he’s PM he has few political allies or counsellors in Westminster.
Initially, No. 10 was staffed initially by people from his tenure as London mayor, and the Vote Leave campaign.
Most have gone, leaving him perilously short of hands to retrieve the ball when he drops it — or, ideally, before.
The row over who paid for the refurbishment of his Downing Street flat is a prime example of Boris’s sometimes stunning lack of attention to detail.
Detail matters. Both financial and moral integrity are essential. Also, keep your word.
The PM has a long-standing love of grand projects — even if the chance of them ever coming to fruition is negligible.
The Thames estuary has an island airport, which is connected by a tunnel that runs from Stranraer (west Scotland) to Larne (North Ireland), and even under the Isle of Man.
Though imaginative, they are all hopelessly implausible.
Two years ago, Boris acknowledged that the Red Wall constituencies had merely ‘lent’ him their votes.
He must win their trust if he is to make the arrangement permanent.
It is possible, although he may not be able to do it. However, it takes hard work as well as sharp focus.
While he does need vision, leveling up doesn’t just require high-level rhetoric or flights of imagination.
This requires an investment in connectivity, quality of life, economic prospects and training.
It is also imperative to tackle illegal immigration as an urgent matter.
Taking back control of our borders was a key issue during the referendum debate — particularly in the North.
Despite the many setbacks that have occurred recently, the PM still retains political capital within the bank.
His achievements include delivering Brexit and a victory by a wide margin. He also presided over the vaccination miracle that is gradually beating the worst crisis in health care for a century.
And let’s not forget, he routed Corbynism.
While the Tories might have made bad decisions in times of pandemic, just think about what could have been if John McDonnell, Corbyn and Diane Abbott were in control!
Worryingly, however, there’s a danger of drift surrounding the Government at this time and Labour is making money even though they don’t really have to.
Boris is both a great politician and a proven winner.
Even with all the hype, he’s not below the waterline.
To put it in his own words: he must prenez un grip if he wants to prevent those Red Wall votes from being repossessed.
I am reminded of Mario Cuomo, former governor of New York. ‘Campaign in poetry, govern in prose.’