Boris Johnson Is Campaigning Again, But What Exactly Is He Selling?
The strategy is not new. In 2016, Johnson’s team won the referendum on EU membership by talking about things that weren’t Europe.
(Bloomberg) -- Three years after he sold Brexit to the British public, Boris Johnson is back on the campaign trail. The prime minister is still promoting a split from the European Union, but this time without a deal.
Officially, he’s selling the idea that he can only persuade the EU’s leaders to give him the concessions he wants by preparing Britain to leave the bloc without an agreement. But the campaign looks like it’s going wider than that. Indeed, many of the announcements have nothing to do with Brexit.
On Friday evening, for example, there was 14 billion pounds ($17 billion) for schools. “My government will ensure all young people get the best possible start in life,” Johnson said.
There’s already been a promise of 20,000 extra police officers and 1.8 billion pounds for the National Health Service. Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid said he’d be making more spending announcements and the public would see the government “invest in their priorities,” though there’s been little clarity about where the money will come from.
The strategy is not new. In 2016, Johnson’s team won the referendum on EU membership by talking about things that weren’t Europe.
There were daily announcements that once Britain had left the EU, there would be more money for everything, and especially the beloved health service. The other side in the referendum battle, expecting a fight over constitutional and economic questions, found itself facing something more like a general election campaign.
What Election?
Now in government, Johnson’s team -- many of them veterans of the 2016 contest -- look like they’re using another campaign about Europe to fight an election.
There isn’t a vote on the horizon, yet, but the prime minister’s aides talk about one as if it’s an inevitability. And they accept that their lives resemble those of campaign staffers more than those of government officials.
Just like in 2016, there’s a slogan. Then, it was “Take Back Control.” Now it’s “Get Ready.” And just like three years ago, there are enemies -- and many of them haven’t changed. As then, they are business lobby groups and parliamentarians. Judges, currently hearing cases about whether Johnson should be allowed to suspend Parliament, are also on the list.
The first shot against the naysayers was fired on Aug. 28, when the prime minister announced he’d asked Queen Elizabeth II to prorogue -- that is effectively suspend -- the legislature for five weeks from Sept. 12.
Sparking Outrage
His office says the rules mean a suspension essential if he wants to introduce legislation for his domestic priorities. Constitutional experts say that’s not true. The main effect of the move is to restrict the time available to members of Parliament who want to change the law so the U.K. can’t leave the EU without an agreement.
The announcement sparked fury, with House of Commons Speaker John Bercow calling it a “constitutional outrage,” and former Chancellor of the Exchequer Kenneth Clarke accusing the government of telling “blatant lies.” Johnson insisted there would be “ample time” to debate Brexit.
In 2016, the Brexit campaign that Johnson fronted delighted in starting rows because it enabled them to move the debate to ground on which they wanted to fight.
The argument over Parliament is a classic example. Centered on procedure beyond the experience of most voters and apparently irrelevant to their lives, it allows Johnson to pitch himself as committed to delivering on the public vote for Brexit, fighting against MPs who want to thwart the people’s will.
The fact that many of his opponents in Parliament voted three times for predecessor Theresa May’s agreement to leave the EU, and are happy to back another deal if Johnson can reach one with the bloc, is a detail lost in the heat of the campaign. They are painted not as opponents of a no-deal divorce, but of leaving at all.
The coming two weeks will see how the battle plays out.
Showdown
Parliament returns on Tuesday and it would usually see the prime minister giving a statement about the Group of Seven meeting in Biarritz last weekend. Michael Gove, a pro-Brexit veteran who is now minister in charge of no-deal planning, is also due to address the House of Commons.
But all that could be thrown into disarray. Oliver Letwin, one of the former Conservative ministers readying themselves to do battle with Johnson, said on Friday he had “for a number of months” been discussing with Bercow how he might be able to get control of the parliamentary agenda.
Letwin said he’s confident there’s still time to pass a bill blocking any prospect of Britain leaving the EU without a deal.
One option for Johnson might be to offer Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the opposition Labour Party, the chance to fight a general election. The prime minister would struggle to get Parliament to agree to an election after Oct. 31, the date Britain is currently due to leave the EU. A person familiar with Corbyn’s thinking said Labour would support one on Oct. 17 or 24.
“Bring it on,” John McDonnell, Labour’s treasury spokesman, said on Thursday when he was asked about a national vote. The party told existing MPs in June to decide if they want to stand again and McDonnell promised a suite of policies would be ready “in the coming weeks.”
The risk to Johnson would be that arch Euroskeptic Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party, which has selected candidates for every constituency, would eat into his support by claiming that Conservatives can’t be trusted to take the U.K. out of the EU.
It would, though, give Johnson an opportunity to take his message to its logical conclusion and ask the country to give him a mandate to take on Parliament and deliver on the 2016 vote. It would also allow him to sell the thing he’s always sold best: Boris Johnson.
To contact the reporters on this story: Robert Hutton in London at rhutton1@bloomberg.net;Jessica Shankleman in London at jshankleman@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Thomas Penny, Rodney Jefferson
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