The writings of Boris Johnson provide one kind of a history of the political present.
As Kevin Ovenden and others have pointed out on social media they are motivated by no great political principle but a calculation of low political positioning and advantage. Johnson’s position on Brexit where he backed both remain and leave before determining that the latter would best serve his political career is well known.
In his Mail column this week he demands that the UK and US continue to arm Israel, noting along the way how unfortunate the killing of Aid workers was. The key thing he argues is to defeat Hamas (leaving aside as numbers of commentators have noted that even assuming this is possible the Israeli ‘strategy’ is entirely counter productive in doing so).
This position, some research indicates, is not based on some high flown principle, but because it will annoy Dave Cameron and perhaps help to position for a Johnson return after the debacle of a Tory Election defeat.
In October 2006 (Sonia Purnell, Just Boris) Johnson was writing a column for the Telegraph not in the Mail. He called for the US to help Iran build a nuclear bomb on the grounds that they would eventually do so anyway and that it might help balance out relations with Israel, which also has the bomb (unofficially, obviously). The aim as this week, was to annoy the then Tory leadership and promote Johnson’s political career.
For this historic party of the British ruling class, whose aim is meant to be, and often is, to promote the interests of that class, a figure like Johnson reminds of his degenerate and corrupt the Tory tradition has become
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