Boris Johnson: a British Nixon

Johnson’s failure wasn’t Nixonian in its seriousness, but as with the 37th U.S. president, the cover-up was what brought him down.

By
11

Since becoming prime minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson has frequently been compared to Donald Trump. His messy blond hair, boorish demeanor, and populist tendencies have made this an easy comparison. Nevertheless, it is incorrect. 

As Boris Johnson’s premiership ends, a closer examination of his time in power reveals that Johnson is, in fact, not a British Trump, but a British Richard Nixon. Just as with Nixon, it was not the crime that did Johnson in, but the cover-up. And in both cases, the crime was an unforced error completely without political justification. While Nixon’s crime was of course far greater, his downfall shares many similarities with Johnson’s.

The parallels with Nixon are outright uncanny. Right before Watergate, Nixon was so popular that he won his 1972 re-election in a landslide, winning 49 out of 50 states. Much of his popularity stemmed from him ending the decade-long debacle of the Vietnam War. Of course, his far-left opponent, George McGovern, made the job easy for him. The anti-war left, of which McGovern was part, found itself unable to adapt its messaging once American troops had left Vietnam.

Boris Johnson in 2019 called for a snap election a few months after being chosen to lead the Conservative party (which made him prime minister by default). Against him stood a deeply divided Labour Party, led by Jeremy Corbyn, a far-leftist with such extreme views he was almost expelled from the party back when it was led by Tony Blair. After Johnson unexpectedly managed to negotiate a withdrawal agreement with the EU, Labour was left in a tough spot. Johnson’s campaign message was simple: He would “Get Brexit done.”

Keep reading with a free account
Create a free Dispatch account to keep reading Get Started ALREADY HAVE AN ACCOUNT? SIGN IN
11
By
Comments (11)
Join The Dispatch to participate in the comments.
 
  1. Avatar photo
    Amanda

    Nixon's 'crime' was what Democrats did as a matter of course for years. It only became unthinkable and impeachable when a Republican winked at it.

    God, modern political 'morality' really makes me sick!

    Collapse
  2. Avatar photo
    Jack

    EDIT: oops! Wrong article!

    Collapse
  3. Jonathan Didier

    Thanks for going deeper in to this, and it’s a great comparison. As an American who moved to Britain at the beginning of the year (I think they traded me for Guy Denton and a sixth round draft pick) it’s been very interesting learning more about British politics through this particular lens. Months ago my wife and I were wondering why he didn’t just own up to it, apologize, make some excuses and go on from there. We even wondered if it was a cultural thing we were missing. I never thought about the Nixon comparison but you’ve definitely hit the nail on the head. Like you, I’m not happy about it. I like a lot of what Boris has been doing, especially in regard to Ukraine, but in terms of personal conduct and propriety, he clearly is not suited for the job.

    Collapse
    1. Acre00

      I heard someone(probably Charlie Cooke) say that class is Britain's original sin kinda like how slavery is America's, and that's why partygate and the flouting of COVID lockdowns was so damaging - it reaked of aristocratic privalege.

      Collapse
      1. Avatar photo
        Aylene Wright

        Good point about the class issues underlying the anger at the hypocrisy of Johnson and his staff partying while regular Britons remained in lockdown. But it seems Rishi Sunak, who also admitted to attending at least one party, is still a frontrunner to replace Johnson. So the coverup still seems to be seen as the worse crime here.

        And although there are obvious parallels between Boris Johnson and DT regarding privileged politicians cosplaying as populist "men of the people", in BoJo's case it's arguably even more of a stretch than DT. His full name is Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, and he's of a very "posh" background. And although DT himself wasn't "self-made", his father has a slightly better claim to being the embodiment of the American dream. Certainly, it doesn't seem the Trump family ever was accepted in the culturally elite circles despite their money, because while money is necessary, it's not sufficient to achieve that status, even in the US.

        Collapse
        1. Acre00

          Good point about Sunak. I wonder if he's an immigrant or otherwise not of the upper crust; if so, that would shield him from much of the class based anger Johnson suffered. I don't really follow foreign politics, as I will never have the cultural connection required to actually understand them, so please forgive my ignorance.

          I think the largest difference between DT and other politicians that would have drowned by now is that DT lied about what he *did* but never about *who he was*. What's the most famous moment of the Watergate scandal? For me, it's Nixon stating very defensively that "I am not a crook!". Johnson is much the same, playing the character of a charming good ol boy, next door neighbor. It's when people are sold something fake that they get mad.

          On the other hand, DT was the same in private as he was publicly, sad as that is. He wasn't trying to sell anyone on a persona, or a background, or even a firm policy agenda. When scandal hit, the Access Hollywood tape, Stormy Daniels, etc, it didn't have any impact because he never sold himself as a paragon of virtue. He is a moral travesty and doesn't pretend otherwise. What did hurt him? Failure. He sold his voters a story of a business man that would get the country back on track. The only stories that touched him were immigration failures, economic failure, and the handling of covid

          Collapse
          1. Avatar photo
            Aylene Wright

            Sunak is actually extremely wealthy, but wealth and class aren't the same thing over the pond. I don't know how long his family has been in the UK, but it's certainly possible that a *perception* that he's an immigrant has shielded him from some of the class-based resentment that was applied to Johnson.

            Collapse
      2. Jonathan Didier

        That’s a good point, and likely true. I see class issues much less frequently, as I work in the biomedical sciences where it’s generally given no attention. I’m fairly certain one of the people I interact with frequently is from the gentry, but it’s completely ignored in the lab or at the lunch table.

        Collapse
  4. Avatar photo
    Aylene Wright

    Thanks for this deep dive into exactly why Partygate brought down Boris Johnson, while other politicians survived breaking their own COVID rules. I think one big reason Newsom survived, and Johnson hanging on as long as he did, was due to political partisanship. Both men tried to paint their critics as just partisans out to exploit their minor transgressions for political gain. In another parallel to Nixon, Johnson only agreed to resign once fellow Conservatives turned on him with mass resignations from his Cabinet, and finally a confrontation at 10 Downing Street, in which even strong allies told Johnson he was done, with obvious parallels to Goldwater leading a similar group to confront Nixon at the White House.

    Although I understand that the straw that broke the camel's back was another scandal involving an MP and Deputy Whip for the Conservative Party, rather too appropriately named Pincher, being accused of groping two men while drunk. Inquiry into this latest scandal, revealed Pincher had a past history of allegations of similar behavior. Johnson's attempts at damage control here were also very similar to how he addressed Partygate, initially denying he knew of the prior allegations, but eventually admitting he knew of them but gave Pincher the party leadership position anyway.

    Collapse
    1. Avatar photo
      John Gustavsson @Nationstatist

      I mean, the Pincher thing was the trigger, yes, but the Conservatives had lost two by elections during the month of June, one of them in a district where in the 2019 election they won 60 % against Labour's 19 %! Those by elections took place on the 23rd of June and sealed Johnson's fate (if it wasn't sealed already) as they proved that his impopularity was losing them safe, Tory heartland kind of seats, not just marginal swing seats.

      Collapse