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Journalism of Courage
Written by Rudra Mani Tripathi
Boris Johnson, the new leader of the Conservative Party and the Prime Minister-elect of the United Kingdom who is often referred to mononymously as just ‘Boris’, previously served as the Mayor of London from 2008 to 2016, and as the Foreign Secretary from 2016 to 2018.
His words and actions during these stints in office, and the public statements and policy interventions that he has made over the years, give an indication of the expected broad contours of his prime ministership.
Brexit and the Irish border
Prior to the 2016 Brexit referendum, Johnson played an active role as one of the leaders of the ‘Leave’ campaign. In the run-up to the leadership election of the Conservative Party, he repeatedly promised that he would ensure that the UK leaves the European Union by the October 31 deadline, with no further delays.
Johnson claims to be willing to go through with a ‘no-deal’ Brexit, a move that organisations including the IMF and the Bank of England believe will have a lasting negative impact on the British economy.
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A no-deal Brexit also leads to the possibility of a physical border between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland on the island of Ireland, something that all parties involved want to avoid because of the historical sensitivity of the issue. (The constitutional status of Northern Ireland — with the mainly Protestant Unionists wanting that Northern Ireland stay within the UK, while the mostly Catholic Irish nationalists desired that Northern Ireland join a united Ireland — led to violence and unrest for several decades until the Good Friday Agreement of 1998.)
Northern Ireland, which is in the northeast of the island of Ireland, is a part of the United Kingdom, and has a land border with the Republic of Ireland. The Republic of Ireland is a part of the EU, and post Brexit, this will be its only land border with the UK. In the event of a no-deal Brexit, Customs and immigration checkpoints might conceivably have to be set up on this border.
One of the reasons outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal was rejected by Parliament was the perceived failure to address the Irish border question. Johnson aims to do away completely with the so-called “Irish backstop”, the EU proposal to keep Northern Ireland within the EU Customs Union and single market in some respects, and prevent a hard border that might impact the Good Friday Agreement.
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Johnson has written in his column in The Telegraph that he believes technology would be the solution to the problem of the Irish border, along with a “can-do attitude”.
Main foreign policy flags
The most prominent aspect of Johnson’s foreign policy is his antipathy towards the UK remaining in the EU, and his belief that this is detrimental for the sovereignty of the UK.
During his time in office as Foreign Secretary, Johnson came under fire for a number of remarks that were crticised as being insensitive. Johnson refused to apologise for a joke he made about the Libyan city of Sirte which, he said, could be the next Dubai, if only it could “clear the dead bodies away”.
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Early in his tenure, Johnson’s visit to Turkey was marred by a rude poem he had written months earlier about President Recep Tayyip Erdogan having sex with a goat. The poem, published by the Spectator, won Johnson a £1,000 prize at the “President Erdogan Offensive Poetry Competition”.
Most notably, Johnson erroneously claimed that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian dual citizen who has been detained in Iran since 2016, had been “simply teaching people journalism”, a remark that was used by the Iranian government to justify her detention.
Public personality
Johnson’s supporters find his public persona of wit and charm, with emphasis on an air of comedic lightheartedness, attractive. Johnson has professed views of an economic and social liberal, and appears to have a more pro-immigration stance than his predecessor May.
However, Johnson has received harsh criticism for his perceived elitism, and has been faced with accusations of using homophobic and racist language. The former Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, said in an interview with the New Statesman that Johnson is “a fairly lazy tosser who just wants to be there”.
(Rudra Mani Tripathi is a student of Ashoka University and an intern with The Indian Express)
