Six years in the past, Nick Cohen penned the perfect evaluation not of Brexit, however moderately the general public response of the ‘reformed’ journalists, Boris Johnson and Michael Gove who fronted its clinching arguments:
…they gazed on the press with coffin-lid faces and wept over the prime minister they’d destroyed. David Cameron was “courageous and principled”, intoned Johnson. “An incredible prime minister”, muttered Gove. Like Goneril and Regan competing to supply false compliments to Lear, they coated the chief they’d doomed with hypocritical reward. Nobody whoops at a funeral, particularly not mourners who’re glad to see the again of the deceased. However I noticed one thing past hypocrisy in these frozen faces: the worry of journalists who’ve been discovered.
The media don’t rattling themselves, so I’m talking out of flip once I say that in case you assume rule by skilled politicians is unhealthy wait till journalist politicians take over. Johnson and Gove are the worst journalist politicians you may think about: pundits who’ve prospered by treating public life as a sport. Right here is how they play it. They seize media consideration by blaring out a giant, dramatic thought. An establishment is failing? Shut it. A public determine blunders? Sack him. They transfer from journalism to politics, however keep it up as earlier than. When introduced with a bureaucratic EU that sends us too many immigrants, they are saying the reply is straightforward, as media solutions have to be. Go away. Now. Then all can be nicely. [Emphasis added]
Given what’s occurred since, it’s a principle that’s now onerous to refute. Not least as a result of a few of Johnson’s earlier declamatory journalism isn’t getting used in opposition to him. This on Blair in September 2006:
Ouch. And here’s a few years in a while one other predecessor of his, Gordon Brown:
Who certainly? Brown was hanging in what turned out to be a useless (however official) hope of a coalition with the Lib Dems. If Johnson appears to be foretelling his personal future demise, the broader verdict is harsher.
This week’s Bagehot column on British politics in The Economist:
The truth that Boris Johnson is a serial liar and lacks the self-discipline to use himself to onerous issues is well-known. A kind of grey-faced cupboard ministers, Michael Gove, stated that Mr Johnson was lower than the duty of management again in 2016, and his verdict then was spot-on. However the extent to which he poisons the reputations of these he comes into contact with is hanging. This toxicity isn’t just a private attribute. It additionally says one thing essential concerning the political system he sits atop.
Cohen once more…
Johnson and Gove carried with them a second function of unscrupulous journalism: the contempt for sensible questions. By no means has a revolution in Britain’s place on the planet been advocated with such carelessness. The Go away marketing campaign has no plan. And that isn’t simply because there was a shamefully under-explored division between the majority of Brexit voters who wished the robust welfare state and strong communities of their youth and the leaders of the marketing campaign who wished Britain to turn out to be an offshore tax haven. Vote Go away didn’t know how you can resolve difficulties with Scotland, Eire, the refugee camp at Calais, and a thousand different issues, and didn’t need to know both.
It responded to all who predicted the chaos now engulfing us like an unscrupulous pundit who is aware of that his dwelling is dependent upon shutting up the consultants who gainsay him. For why put the pundit on air, why pay him a penny, if consultants can present that all the pieces he says is windy nonsense? The worst journalists, editors and broadcasters know their audiences need leisure, not experience. Should you doubt me, ask whenever you final noticed panellists on Query Time who knew what they had been speaking about. [Emphasis added throughout]
Second final phrase to gifted Scottish columnist Alex Massie (do learn the entire thing)…
Johnson’s authorities didn’t finish with a melancholy sense of squandered promise. It was, usually, all fashion and no substance. No shock, actually, since this has been Johnson’s operational default his complete profession. The heavy lifting has been executed by different folks. At The Spectator, as an example, virtually all of the work of really enhancing the journal was executed by Johnson’s long-suffering deputy, Stuart Reid. Johnson was a figurehead editor and whereas a weekly journal might address that, operating the nation wants just a bit extra dedication.
(As a columnist, in the meantime, it will be ungenerous to disclaim that Johnson had expertise in a show-boating sense however his copy, vibrant because it may be and entertaining to some, nonetheless had a curiously weightless high quality to it. Sure, effective, however what’s the actual level of it? And for all that folks preferred to make use of the time period “Wodehousian” in reference to Boris the journalist, there was one important distinction: Wodehouse would throw out a joke if it interrupted or received in the best way of the plot. Johnson, in contrast, may by no means resist the gag, even at the price of undermining all else. The gag, in truth, was the purpose. I don’t imply this unkindly: newspapers are by their nature ephemeral, however it’s clever to not less than concentrate on their limitations. One different small, however revealing, word: Johnson was infamous for submitting his copy late, irrespective of how a lot this may inconvenience different, moderately much less well-paid, folks. Simply Boris being Boris, after all, however different folks had to deal with or clear up the mess.)
After which Bagehot…
Mr Johnson isn’t the reason for all that ails Britain. He has brio and appeal. However the risks of sitting round that cupboard desk with him had been actual. His flaws tarnished good folks. They poisoned the federal government—and by extension, the nation.
Mick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Web on politics and the broader media and is a daily visitor and talking occasions throughout Eire, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty
