There’s more to Boris’s ‘mugwump’ insult than meets the eye

Boris Johnson has entered the election campaign with a bang. The Foreign Secretary was being squirrelled away, some were saying, after a number of ministers apparently suggested to Theresa May that she should sideline Boris to avoid alienating voters. It’s clear that’s not going to be happening. Today, Boris is front and centre calling the leader of the opposition a ‘mugwump’. In the Sun, Boris said that some may think Corbyn is harmless – a ‘mutton-headed old mugwump’ – but they’d be wrong to hold that view. The po-faced will say this is proof that Johnson is up to his old tricks and we shouldn’t fall for it; shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry has done just that, calling the comments ‘crass’. She’s right; it’s childish. And yes, its also nonsense: a mugwump is someone who remains aloof or independent. Of all the charges to level at Corbyn, this seems far from the most obvious.