{"id":474,"date":"2016-02-23T16:55:49","date_gmt":"2016-02-23T16:55:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/expertcomment\/?p=474"},"modified":"2021-06-15T15:35:45","modified_gmt":"2021-06-15T14:35:45","slug":"boris-makes-his-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/expertcomment\/boris-makes-his-move\/","title":{"rendered":"Boris makes his move"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr Mark Bennister, Senior Lecturer in the School of Politics and International Relations<\/a>, discusses Boris Johnson’s announcement to campaign for Britain to leave the European Union.<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n

And so to watch Boris in action at City Hall. By chance I was there to see how questioning the Mayor works as part of a wider research project on prime ministerial accountability to the legislature<\/span><\/a>. Of course this was the morning after the night before and it\u2019s all about Boris and Europe<\/span><\/a>. The Mayor\u2019s Question Time was supposed to be about the budget, but Boris \u2013 and to be fair several assembly members \u2013 was determined to make it all about the EU.<\/p>\n

Boris doesn\u2019t really hide his general disdain for the GLA. After all it is a largely toothless body that has limited powers over the Mayor, so in return he pays it lip service and can\u2019t get out of the chamber quickly enough. The setup of the Chamber provides an interesting backdrop<\/span><\/a> \u2013 the Mayor sits alone at the helm as a later day Pontius Pilate. He mumbles to conservative members occasionally, bumbles through his papers when lost for answers and generally looks rather irritated. Of course the media are there, so he takes every opportunity to elaborate on his, still ill defined, anti-EU stance. \u2018The EU is costly\u2019, \u2018the EU is intrusive\u2019, \u2018supranationalism is not necessary\u2019 and so on, but he is feeling his way unconvinced of his own half-arguments. He is desperately trying to sound reasonable \u2013 he agrees with the European arrest warrant for instance, but could it be negotiated intergovernmentally? He tries not to sound like Farage, but ends up doing so \u2013 much to his own chagrin. Watching Boris at work shows up his strengths and weaknesses. He swats away the flippant attempts to challenge him \u2013 you just can\u2019t outclown Boris or outsmart him. Labour\u2019s Andrew Dismore tried a game history lesson exchange, but it proved the wrong line of attack. Dismore\u2019s more forensic questioning though exposed how Boris can\u2019t be bothered with details. A report not read, a committee response ignored and so on. He\u2019s planning for greater things than \u2018pointless\u2019 local issues.<\/p>\n

Boris may have made his greatest error in taking the Brexit line. As Mayor he championed London\u2019s place in the EU; his strategic plan warned of the risks of Brexit for London. So his volte\u00a0face stretches credibility. He is no longer interested in acting on behalf of Londoners \u2013 if he ever was. London was a play thing on the way to a higher calling. The road though is likely to be a rocky one. As his father warned<\/span><\/a>, he may have terminated his own career with this shift. Boris as Mayor had a personal mandate and an office in which he could pursue an agenda without serious challenge. He will use his last months in office to try to hone a Eurosceptic message that resonates with the public and boosts his standing, but after May he\u2019ll be out on his own \u2013 as he so often is.<\/p>\n

Join the debate at the School of Politics and International Relations next event, <\/strong><\/em>Brexit Debate: Should the UK Leave the EU? taking place at 5pm on Friday 26 February in the Old Sessions House building, North Holmes Campus at Canterbury Christ Church University. For more information and to book a place visit the University website.<\/a> This post was first published on the Canterbury Politics and International Relations blog<\/a>. <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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