After Covid-19, the prime minister risks being exposed for what he is: a shameless bluffer who says what he wants to, without considering the truth
In the British cult comedy movie Monty Python’s Life of Brian there is a row between members of the People’s Front of Judea over “what have the Romans ever done for us?”. While the characters initially castigate the imperium, it quickly dawns on them that the Romans have done quite a few good things: such as aqueducts, sanitation, roads. The question for voters at the next election will be what Boris Johnson’s government has done for them and what Labour is going to do if it gets elected. Mr Johnson’s election promises were immodest: he was going to “level up the country” after securing Brexit. Expectations were set very high. It’s not clear that the prime minister can meet them.
“Levelling up” contains hope and grievance. The phrase suggests it’s time to stop treating poorer areas less well than richer ones. Mr Johnson claimed he would “level up” Britain and “answer the plea of the forgotten people and the left-behind towns”. He wants to tap into an egalitarian zeitgeist. In fact, he is echoing Margaret Thatcher whose 1976 Tory party said it “believe(s) in levelling up, in enhancing opportunities, not in levelling down, which dries up the springs of enterprise and endeavour … ”. This is what Mr Johnson means but cannot say because polling suggests a widespread distrust of business and capitalism.
