It’s too late for Boris Johnson to get a grip on his psychological flaws

The end of Johnson’s premiership could take hours or weeks but the sky is definitely getting darker now, writes John Rentoul

Tuesday 05 July 2022 19:15 BST
Comments
<p>The long faces of the unhappy crew around a table looking more coffin-shaped than ever </p>

The long faces of the unhappy crew around a table looking more coffin-shaped than ever

As Boris Johnson slips into the twilight of his premiership, he makes an unusual psychological study. As I wrote the other day, the qualities that won him the election victory and Got Brexit Done are also the cause of his downfall. His willingness to break the rules, or to defy convention, confused his opponents and allowed him to break the deadlock in parliament.

But then came the coronavirus and Johnson appeared to think that the laws his government passed didn’t apply to him. Not only that, when challenged about possible lawbreaking in Downing Street, his instinct was to deny everything and to claim to know nothing.

That is the particular psychological flaw that is responsible for magnifying the Chris Pincher story. The true story is bad enough, namely that Johnson appointed Pincher deputy chief whip knowing that he had admitted and apologised for “inappropriate behaviour” – mandarin-speak for sexual harassment. But an early admission of those facts could have limited the damage. It would have required Johnson to accept that it was a mistake to have appointed Pincher and to apologise for it.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in