Ⲡ@joerg_fliege@pluspora.com: David Davis has left the chat: âIn the Name of God, Goâ https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/01/boris-johnson-winston-churchill/621294/
If you wanted to choose a quotation to wound Boris Johnsonâa man who wrote a biography of Winston Churchill as a coded advertisement for his own virtuesâthen this would be it. When Johnsonâs fellow Conservative David Davis stood up in Parliament today and said these words, he must have intended them to be a fatal blow. Davis was not comparing the prime minister to his hero Churchill. He was comparing him to Neville Chamberlain, Churchillâs weak, appeasing predecessor.Dave, the absolute mad lad.
The quotation comes from a 1940 debate on Britainâs conduct in the dispiriting first months of the Second World War, as Britain failed to defend Norway from a German invasion. The Conservative Leo Amery compared Chamberlainâs attitude toward Adolf Hitler to that of a lion hunter caught sleeping by the lion. âThat is, in brief, the story of our initiative over Norway,â Amery said. Then he built to a conclusion that quoted Oliver Cromwell, who overthrew and executed King Charles I. âThis is what Cromwell said to the Long Parliament when he thought it was no longer fit to conduct the affairs of the nation: âYou have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go.ââ
When Davis repeated these words, it was an extraordinary moment. After the rowdy heckling of Prime Ministerâs Questionsâat which Johnson bullishly defended his record in the face of questions about lockdown-breaking partiesâthe House of Commons fell silent. Davis is not only a fellow Tory, but a Brexiteer and a former cabinet colleague of Johnsonâs; he is also a known maverick with a taste for drama. Everyone knew that he was capable of throwing a grenade. And he did.
Johnsonâs response was to claim that he didnât recognize the quotation. Either he was lying or someone else must have written his Churchill book. The day after the Norway debate, Germany invaded France and Chamberlain resigned from officeâto be replaced by Churchill. How could a Churchill biographer not know the most famous quote from that pivotal debate?
A simple explanation for why Johnsonâs Churchill factor evaporated is that he used to smell like a winner, and now he doesnât. His fate has a certain poetry. Boris Johnson has finally had the experience that he has inflicted on so many others: being used up and discarded. Unlike his idolâwhose successors have aspired to âChurchillianâ greatnessâJohnsonâs name will not become an adjective. The class clown has become a punch line.