Aged 47, Liz Truss, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, succeeds Monday September 5 to Boris Johnson, forced to leave power following a series of scandals. Will he leave the political arena? Nothing is less certain: he enjoys solid popularity within the conservative party, and he has kept his future unclear. Daniel Vallot’s interview with Georgina Wright, director of the Europe program at the Institut Montaigne
RFI: Can Boris Johnson hope to make a “ comeback policy in the image of the man who has always served as his model, Winston Churchill?
Georgina Wright: For now anyway, Boris Johnson intends to remain an MP, i.e., like Theresa May, he will remain in the House of Commons. Some think he will eventually leave the House and go back to his old ways, that he will go back to being a journalist and commentating on politics rather than being at its heart. Can he aspire to return to Downing Street? If he can’t run for prime minister immediately, he might in the future. So it’s a goodbye but not a farewell. Especially since in the eyes of many of his supporters, he has a contested but not totally negative record. In the positives, we can think perhaps of foreign policy, with the support for Ukraine, or the fact that he succeeded in taking the United Kingdom out of the European Union. The British also recognize the success of its vaccine policy against Covid-19. Finally, on the political level, we must not forget that in the last elections, the Conservative Party obtained the largest majority since the 1980s. As a result, there are many who regret his departure.
What is astonishing is that despite the lies, the escapades and the scandals, Boris Johnson has remained popular within the Conservative Party, at least with a certain fringe of the party…
When we look at the polls, we realize that there are still many people who consider him to have been a good Prime Minister and who believe that the situation is likely to get worse with Liz Truss. So I think it will depend a lot on her and what she manages to accomplish, what she manages to implement between now and the next legislative elections which are due to take place in two years.
The other scenario would be that of a Boris Johnson who does not return to power but who ” pollutes » the mandate of Liz Truss, a bit like John Major in the 90s, who had suffered from the shadow cast by Margaret Thatcher.
It’s entirely possible and it really depends on what he decides to do. If he decides to remain a deputy, he could indeed ” pollute or in any case fuel public debate in the House of Commons. But he could very well decide to leave the political scene for the moment and return to journalism instead, to write op-eds in the newspapers and to devote himself to an analysis completely outside the Conservative party. It is too early to know what he will do, but it is clear that he will remain a voice and that he will have an important influence within the United Kingdom.
It leaves Liz Truss with a UK in dire economic straits with soaring energy prices, inflation and repeated strikes. Faced with this difficult situation, what can the new Prime Minister do?
For the moment, we do not know precisely what his intentions are. She promised to respond to the energy crisis, but it is unclear how. In any case, what is clear is that it is opposed to the price shield, as France did for example by limiting the increase in energy bills to 4%. In the United Kingdom, we talk about doubling, tripling the bills! So, it will have to be answered. She talked about support for households that need it most, but beyond that, in reality, it’s unclear what she’s going to offer. Everything will also depend on her cabinet because she is Prime Minister of course, but she does not make decisions alone. In any case, responding to the energy crisis will be its number one priority. Ultimately, its goal will be to grow and evolve the UK economy.
There will also undoubtedly be the desire to stand out from the Boris Johnson style, in particular to avoid escapades and scandals.
I think that some discipline within the party, or at least within the government, will be necessary. That said, I think she herself isn’t afraid to take risks, even when decisions aren’t going to please everyone. In addition, he is someone who communicates quite directly! Four years ago, she recorded a podcast in which she admitted that she did not have time to read newspapers and preferred to get information through social networks. She says she likes to communicate directly with people, so I think we’ll see her speaking up a lot more. She is an unfailing optimist. She is extremely patriotic. But she has very difficult decisions to make, in a very difficult context, and it will really be necessary to see how she will respond to these challenges in the coming months.
►Also listen: Liz Truss succeeds Boris Johnson in Downing Street: “A return to the roots of conservatism”