Boris Johnson’s great strength has always been his ability to spot, recruit and hire a great variety of brilliant people. He did so when he edited this magazine and as London Mayor with a superb crop of deputy mayors. As Foreign Secretary he couldn’t hire anyone, so he struggled. As Prime Minister, his gift seemed to have come back when he hired Munira Mirza as policy chief. She was one of his deputy mayors and having her in No. 10 was, to me, a promise of great things to come. Her resignation, today, suggests a prime ministerial team that’s falling apart rather than being rebuilt.
She is an academic, a thinker, a fighter, writer (she once wrote a superb cover story for us) and I always saw her as a potential London mayoral candidate. Her Race Commission was one of the best things to come out of Johnson’s Downing Street — and had her hallmarks. Thoughtful, thorough, brave (it meant her taking on the race relations establishment who tried to discredit her)
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