Brexit wars: Return of the Dud, er, Dude

For a conservative who has remained ceremoniously pessimistic about his own chances of making it to the upper echelons of the world leadership, Boris Johnson, turned up as the leader of the Tories and the Prime Minister-Elect of the United Kingdom, in a referendum that had set itself in motion after the resignation of his predecessor Theresa May last month. Johnson who had remarked, without pretensions, “My chances of being PM are about as good as the chances of finding Elvis on Mars, or my being reincarnated as an olive,” would be stepping inside the 10 Downing Street as its next prestigious occupant.

Mr Prime Minister

Johnson was elected the leader of Tories by defeating foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt in a margin greater than some of his peers, including firebrand opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn but still short of his friend and predecessor David Cameron.

A Member of Parliament for Uxbridge and South Ruislip since 2015, Johnson trounced Hunt by raking in 66% of the votes cast.  

Shortly after his election, Johnson took to his twitter to thank those who voted him to see him through to the post of premiership. “Thank you all for the incredible honour you have done me. The time for campaigning is over and the time for work begins to unite our country and party, deliver Brexit and defeat Corbyn. I will work flat out to repay your confidence,” the PM-Elect tweeted.

Deliver, Unite, and Defeat (And, energise)

He chose to reiterate his commitment to UK’s separation from the EU mainland in his maiden speech as PM-Elect. “We know the mantra of the campaign just gone by, Deliver Brexit, Unite the country and Defeat Jeremy Corbyn and that’s what we’re going to do,” he said before remarking on the irony of the acronym that arises out of the slogan, “I know some have already pointed out ‘Deliver, Unite and Defeat’ was not the best slogan because it spells out DUD. But they forgot the final E for energise.” “I say to my doubters, DUDE, we’re going to get Brexit done on October 31,” he declared.

In the shoes of Frenemy David Cameron

In 2005, leadership contest, he threw his arm around and weight behind his frenemy David Cameron who would go on to become the prime minister of the UK. But he didn’t mince words on his support to fellow Etonian. He chose to describe his support of Cameron with this dismissive remark, “I am supporting David Cameron purely out of cynical self-interest.” The political archrivals are known to each other since Oxford University days. He has had a trail of spectacularly glaring fallout with Cameron over Brexit and equally public reconciliation with his “friend” who had resigned from the post of Prime Minister after referendum by people of the UK threw up England in a chaotic aye over Brexit.  

For a man who was terminated for falsifying a quote and breaking the cardinal rule of journalism during his initial days with the Times, BoJo has come a long way to become the Resident Conservative of the United Kingdom as its premier who will now have the arduous task of seeing Brexit through.