With Trump and Netanyahu wreaking havoc, Johnson’s fall makes clear that only former allies can destroy these strongmen, says Jonathan Freedland
, continue to wreak or threaten havoc, it’s instructive to work out exactly what did for Johnson. It could even be a formula to follow.
This week marked the third anniversary of a lockdown that was like nothing the country had ever endured before, requiring a suppression of the most elemental human instincts: to be close to others, to talk, to touch.
Consider that for a moment. If Johnson had been describing a day when, say, Downing Street had learned of an incoming missile strike on London, forcing staff to convene immediately in a small, sealed situation room where it was impossible for generals and ministers to keep 2 metres apart, we might agree that, yes, those were exceptional circumstances and such a meeting was truly essential.
And by what strange logic might the rules have allowed Downing Street staff to gather to wave off a policy aide or speechwriter they’d known for all of a few months, and yet bar families from saying farewell to their dying loved ones? Did Johnson really reckon the rules held that it was fine for him to see off some comms aide with a glass of fizz, but that the Queen had to say goodbye to her husband of 73 years wholly alone? Wednesday’s hearing was proof that, while Johnson may have had Covid,...
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