Boris Johnson is poised to become prime minister. Is he up to the job? (NO !!)
https://www.ft.com/content/9c7a133a-9d22-11e9-b8ce-8b459ed04726
As the bus-hobby video clip went viral, online-content strategists pointed out that by talking about buses,
the former foreign secretary had successfully crowded out from online searches what would normally come up if you google “Boris and bus”:
the infamous red bus in the 2016 EU referendum campaign, which falsely claimed that Britain sent £350m a week to Brussels, and which added:
“Let’s fund our NHS instead.”
....
Johnson now presents himself as the man to sort out Brexitt^ and “pitchfork this incubus off our back”.
One Tory MP sighs: “He’s the one who put it there.”
.....
In European capitals, the former foreign secretary is widely regarded as a policy lightweight,
who busked his way through the referendum and is now thrashing around fanciful ideas to try to get out of the mess he created.
“On Brexit, he always spoke in general terms,” says Claus Grube, former Danish ambassador in London.
“You were never really sure what was a joke and what was government policy.”
Another EU ambassador says:
“There was always a feeling he was working off the basis of a hunch.”
One story recounted by the London diplomatic corps is how Johnson, as foreign secretary and champion of a free-trading “Global Britain”,
was taken by surprise when told that Britain did more trade with the Netherlands and Ireland than with China.
....
his supporters are determined to protect him from his own worst instincts.
Having learnt from his back catalogue of mistakes, gaffes and provocative quotes, his team are playing it safe and initially limited his public appearances.
< how do they plan to stop the gaffes when he talks to foreign leaders ? Answer: Mission Impossible >