Plan B | 20 June 2019

When Boris Johnson was appointed editor of this magazine two decades ago, an unkind soul said it was like ‘entrusting a Ming vase in the hands of an ape’. The remark encapsulated many people’s worst fears about the man who will almost certainly be Britain’s prime minister in four weeks’ time, if not before: that Boris is an irresponsible joker. Similar warnings were made when he was elected London mayor. His refusal to conform to type encourages a constant expectation of imminent disaster.

What if Boris flops in No. 10? Even his supporters can’t be sure he won’t fail: his election as leader is a gamble from a party that believes its very survival is at stake. Much depends on which Boris Johnson it is who takes up residence in Downing Street: the inspired campaigner who was twice elected mayor of London, against the odds, and who left that office more popular than when he arrived — or the bungler who spent two years at the Foreign Office achieving little other than to upset diplomatic relations.