{"id":4318,"date":"2019-07-25T15:45:42","date_gmt":"2019-07-25T14:45:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/expertcomment\/?p=4318"},"modified":"2021-06-15T17:14:58","modified_gmt":"2021-06-15T16:14:58","slug":"boris-johnson-clown-or-joker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/expertcomment\/boris-johnson-clown-or-joker\/","title":{"rendered":"Boris Johnson: clown or Joker?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Professor David Bates looks at the character of new Prime Minister Boris Johnson through the prism of political theory.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

So, \u2018Bo Jo\u2019 is Prime Minister (for now!). He won a clear mandate amongst the Conservative Party membership. This is hardly surprising. The Johnson brand has for a long time been popular with the Tory grass roots. But it is clear now that Johnson is preparing for an election \u2013 some suggest as early as October. The Tories know that the populist right-wing politics of Johnson will have a good chance of winning out against Corbyn\u2019s Labour Party \u2013 currently concerned more with fighting amongst itself than acting as an effective opposition.<\/p>\n

But how are we to read Boris Johnson – this rather curious figure, with the dishevelled hair and ill-fitting suit. A figure who claims he can sweep aside the \u2018doubters\u2019, the \u2018naysayers\u2019 and the \u2018remoaners\u2019, and lead the United Kingdom into its shiny new \u2018confident\u2019 Brexit future? According to his speech on the steps of Number 10 Downing Street, Boris\u2019s Britain will be a high-tech, tolerant, open, animal loving and environmentally friendly utopia.<\/p>\n

But should we believe him? Picking up on an analogy put forward some time ago in the work of the Lacanian philosopher Slavoj Zizek, I think we would be better to compare Johnson to the Joker in the film Batman <\/em>rather than a clown. True clowns are, to many people, scary. Coulrophobia after all is a psychological condition which refers to a persistent and irrational\u00a0fear of clowns, though given the power of British Prime Ministers, if he were a clown, fear of him might not be so irrational! But the Joker has wider plans for world domination! Did not Johnson himself have a childhood ambition to be \u2018King of the world\u2019?<\/p>\n

In The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte,<\/em> Karl Marx wrote what was to become one of his most famous quotes, commenting on Napoleon Bonaparte\u2019s nephew\u2019s coup and subsequent role as Emperor of France:<\/p>\n

\u2018Hegel remarks somewhere\u00a0that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce\u2019.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He comments on how the farcical dictator wraps himself in the ridiculous pomp and ceremony, formed through an imaginary ideal of the French state – devising for himself a uniform more ridiculous than any fancy dress. But such tomfoolery hides something \u2013 the subjection of the French people to violent authoritarian rule, on the arbitrary wishes of the Emperor. For as \u2018they cannot represent themselves, they must be represented\u2019.<\/p>\n

It is often claimed by \u2018Brexiteers\u2019 that because the UK voted Brexit, it is essential for political trust that politicians \u2018get the job done\u2019. With this argument, it is suggested that the \u2018elites\u2019 are somehow conspiring to block the will of the people. But the people no more know what they want than do their leaders. And in contrast to those former left libertarians such as Claire Fox (now of Nigel Farage\u2019s Brexit Party), I would suggest that post EU referendum Britain has not witnessed the continued exercise of a clear democratic will on the part of UK citizens (or rather, subjects). Rather, in requesting that politicians \u2018get on with it\u2019, many of those who voted for Brexit have seemingly delegated responsibility.<\/p>\n

In Lacanian language, they feel the need to be dominated by a \u2018big Other\u2019. \u2018I am bored now, they shout\u2019, Boris may be somewhat ridiculous, but \u2018he will sort out the mess for us\u2019; \u2018good old Boris\u2019. But Johnson\u2019s record shows that the only person he is interested in representing is himself. Indeed, many in the Brexit Cabinet \u2013 probably the most right-wing Cabinet in living memory \u2013 display similar traits to \u2018get the job done\u2019. I am sure Johnson will emerge from the wreckage without so much as a scratch \u2013 and more concerning, a regret.<\/p>\n

Beware what you wish for!<\/p>\n

David Bates is Professor of Contemporary Political Thought and Director of\u00a0Politics and International Relations<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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