History won’t look kindly on Boris

‘Them’s the breaks’. Those three words speak volumes about Boris Johnson’s ability, his character and his fears.

The words show Johnson retains the talents that made him a successful columnist. I know a lot of people don’t like this, but he was a good columnist, in the sense that he consistently said things that people were interested in hearing and talking about. Amid the eternal babble of the media, being able to find a phrase, a word, a sentence or a paragraph that captures attention and captures ideas – consistently – is no small skill.

‘Them’s the breaks’ is already doing exactly what its author intended. It’s becoming the headline on stories about Johnson’s departure from No. 10. It’s framing that departure, shaping the story.

That framing is doing a lot of quite complicated things, all of them quite deliberately intended. ‘Them’s the breaks’ says that Johnson’s departure is just one of those things, the sort of unfortunate turn of events that could happen to any of us.