Hear from Simon Heffer, a leading conservative commentator who has known Boris Johnson for three decades, as we discuss the UK’s newest and most enigmatic leader.
The British Conservative grassroots have voted Boris Johnson for leader in large numbers because they believe he has the charisma, showmanship and, incidentally, views on Brexit to ensure Britain leaves the European Union successfully on October 31. As a result, the Tory rank-and-file members believe their re-born party will win the next general election handsomely.
However, Simon Heffer has serious doubts. Boris is not a lovable rogue, nor is he likely to unite the Conservative party. No one, according to Professor Heffer, should bet on the new Prime Minister shaping the destiny of Britain and her people for much more than a brief, and possibly deeply troubling, interlude.
Simon Heffer is a columnist for The Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, London, and professor of modern British history at the University of Buckingham. He is author of, among other influential books, High Minds: The Victorians and the Birth of Modern Britain and The Age of Decadence: Britain 1880 to 1914.