In Scotland there is a familiar expression,
“Use your Heid!”, to command others to think before acting, to have an
intelligent debate on the merits of a course of action rather than adopting a
rashly gung-ho policy. It is good advice and those who take it are acting
rationally and can progress further with a clear conscience. The Western world
is led by US President Donald Trump, aged 73, who has just launched his
campaign for re-election in 2020 and Britain is almost certain to see Boris Johnson,
aged 55, appointed as Prime Minister next month. How much can we trust these
two gentlemen to use their heads?
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| President Donald Trump |
One hopes that Trump’s Scottish mother
instilled some common sense into his son, but it has to be said this quality is
not evident. He enjoyed a first-rate education yet he does not appear to be at
all reflective. He has been brought up in high social circles but he is
clumsily oafish in speech and manner. He has had much success in the property
business, including some dire setbacks, and employs the tricks he learned there
of bluff and bluster in his dealings with nations and seems to spurn the
smoother, well established merits of diplomacy.
He has certainly shaken up American relations
with allies and vowed fire and brimstone on her enemies but it is not clear how
effective he has been. North Korea, Iran and Venezuela are unsubdued while
Europe, China and Mexico are defensive and suspicious. At home the US prospers,
whether because of, or despite, Trump policies, the roller-coaster of Trump’s
boasts and tweeted exaggerations rolls on to our confusion and the personnel of
his administration spin alarmingly through the revolving door.
Trump has a huge domestic following; to borrow
a phrase from H L Mencken “He knows how to enchant the boobery”. An audience of
toiling small-town yokels, hard-grafting farmers, the aspiring blue collared in
rust-belt industries, those of an evangelical turn of mind, rise to Trump in a
storm of ecstasy as he intones his mantra “Make America Great Again”. It is not
our UK politics, but it plays well to a large US constituency. The Democrats
are in feeble disarray; a Trump landslide beckons.
Trump has been described as a Narcissist after
the beautiful Greek youth in myth who fell in love with his own image. Stephen
Fry in his Mythos fills in the picture with this expert quote:
“Narcissistic personality disorder, much talked
about these days, is marked by vanity, self-importance, a grandiose hunger for
acclaim and applause, and above all with an obsession with self-image. The
feelings of others are railroaded and stampeded, while such considerations as
honesty, truthfulness or integrity are blithely disregarded. Bragging, boasting
and delusional exaggeration are common signs. Criticism or belittlement is
intolerable and can provoke aggressive and explosively strange behaviours”
This is Trump to a T. One can grasp at straws –
his apparent moderation on attacks on Iran, maybe a willingness to compromise
with Mexico. Surely the world will shudder but repeat in hope – “Donald, use
your Heid!” and pray that, should Donald finally go berserk, his entourage has
his strait-jacket close to hand.
------------------------
Britain has another psychologically interesting
leader in waiting. Born in New York into the purple of the UK moneyed elite,
Boris excelled at Eton and Balliol, Oxford. An MP since 2002, Boris
Johnson was Mayor of London 2008-16 and later Foreign Secretary for 2 years
under Theresa May. He led with Michael Gove the 2016 campaign supporting Brexit
which narrowly won the referendum. He writes extensively as a journalist and
has edited The Spectator. He is a witty and talented fellow.
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| Unpredictable Boris Johnson |
But Boris is a difficult person to read. He seems
to be surrounded by family and sibling rivalry. His paternal great-grandfather
was Kemal Ali, an Ottoman Muslim liberal poet who married into the English
upper class, his wife dying in childbirth, then he returned to the crumbling
Porte to be briefly Minister of the Interior in 1919 before being kidnapped and
then brutally lynched by a republican mob in the convulsions of 1922. His
father Stanley is a writer, academic and former Europhile MEP while his sister
Rachel is a busy journalist and Liberal Democrat. His brother Jo was a protégé
of David Cameron and is a Tory MP of Remainer views.
The merits of Boris are that, on his day, he
can be a highly persuasive speaker and he strikes a chord with the English
electorate. He is a much more effective vote-catcher than any other Tory as his
campaigns for the London mayoralty and for Brexit demonstrated. He brings Fire
to his causes in a Promethean fashion and would be a priceless leader at a Tory
general election at an appropriate time.
His eye for detail is questioned though as
London Mayor he delegated effectively. He needs to build bridges with his Tory
rivals Jeremy Hunt and Michael Gove and use them in the inner counsels of his
administration.
On the debit side, Boris is cordially loathed
by the London glitterati, literati and cognoscenti. They are generally
fanatical Remainers and many are Wreckers, determined to frustrate the
government and people at every turn. Boris’ constituency is in a minority in
London, but embraces all those outside the metropolis who feel under-valued or
unheard – this is a multitude.
Boris has toffish ways; he has not shaken off “That
ineffable air of effortless superiority which so distinguishes a Balliol
man” and this jars with many, especially chip-on-the-shoulder Scots! He has
a roving eye for the ladies, is twice married and divorced and has had various
liaisons. His present squeeze is Carrie Symonds, a Conservative PR lady and a
noisy quarrel at their house 2 days ago ended up with the police being called,
seized on by the Leftie Guardian newspaper and arch-Wrecker Tory Dominic
Grieve MP sniffing about “character being a factor in the Leadership race”.
These are negatives Boris must avoid.
The prize of the Tory Leadership is well within
his grasp. Boris, zip up, behave and Use your Heid!
SMD
22.06.19
Text Copyright © Sidney Donald
2019
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