There couldn’t be a greater contrast between Margaret Thatcher’s final days and where we are today. After 16 years as party leader and 11 years as our most successful peacetime Prime Minister, Mrs Thatcher, who succeeded ‘the sick man of Europe’, revived our sense of enterprise and laid the foundations for 30 years of prosperity and growth. Yet, with all she had achieved domestically and on the international stage, she was finally exhausted.
Although she was an early victim of what would become the most divisive political idea of our time – Europe – it was not that alone that brought her down, not even the poll tax or any other policy. What mattered was her occasionally rude manner. She was so used to fighting her own cabinet to push her ideas through that even when she had control over it, she treated colleagues as adversaries until they eventually had enough.
Boris is the antithesis of Thatcher. A natural winner of the vote – who else is known only by their first name? – was elected Conservative Mayor of Labor London not once but twice.
After the European referendum left the government in disarray, he became prime minister, negotiated a withdrawal agreement within weeks, called an election and won the biggest majority since Thatcher.
Weeks after he formed a new government, Covid struck, bringing the global economy to a halt. Despite having Covid himself, Johnson’s government created a vaccine discovery and distribution program that was the envy of the world and played a crucial role after Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine to ensure that Europe and the US were united and that NATO is expanding.
Yet, after all this, which would coolly represent a very good start to any new government, I have never known a more obviously unpopular prime minister, subjected to social media ridicule and abuse and now abandoned by his own cabinet and junior ministers . Derided as an inveterate liar, the truth is probably closer to the fact that he’s not a bit lazy and can put a good spin on just about anything. The problem for Boris is that the line between brilliance and something more is often hard to distinguish.
Even if he hangs on for a few more days, after Boris has lost the support of leading members of his cabinet, his days are numbered. He was indeed a rare political talent who liked the voters far more than his own colleagues, and even after all the turmoil of the last few days I wouldn’t be surprised if he still had a good following in the country. Government, however, is not about the individual, however talented, but about working together, and Boris is no longer getting the support of enough members of his government.
He has that in common with Thatcher, both were brought down by their style, by their very manner.
Lord Young of Grafham was a cabinet minister under Margaret Thatcher
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