Are we learning, rather painfully, what happens when you let journalists take over? Boris Johnson and Michael Gove are political hacks, by instinct and experience, so perhaps it is not surprising that Brexit is starting to look and feel like a post-modern sequel to the novel Scoop.
Deadlines, panic, laziness, brilliance, incompetence, disaster, highs, lows, sheer bloody madness — this is the new politics. Triumph snatched from the jaws of disaster, and then days later the reverse. It makes for great copy, and is (go on, you can admit it) very funny. But is it any way to run a country?
What sort of professional other than a journalist would pull off a great political coup, put himself on the brink of power, and then decide to take a few days off? That seems to be what Boris Johnson has just done. What sort of professional other than a journalist would insist for days that he was happy to play second fiddle, and then freak out about deadlines, and dramatically knife Boris in the back? That seems to be what Michael Gove has just done.
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in