Boris’s cunning has allowed him to share in England’s Euro 2020 glory

You campaign in poetry, you govern in prose. That was the formula of legendary New York governor Mario Cuomo and it served him pretty well over three successive terms in office. But it’s not quite right. Not these days. 

What Boris Johnson appears to understand and Keir Starmer does not is that a key factor is whether you know how to campaign in pictures.

We are a long way from an election campaign, but the natural Johnsonian flair for a compelling photograph is already being revealed as a massive advantage for him when compared to the dull visual output of the opposition leader.

Becoming the leader most associated with the massive popular success of the England football team should have been a home banker for Starmer, a lifelong football fan and an Arsenal season ticket-holder (those two facts not necessarily amounting to the same thing, by the way).

By contrast, Johnson knows almost nothing about football and does not profess to either.