Wizened, sombre, all bluster gone... as though the ghosts of his future had visited all at once
ON A DAY OF SOBER REFLECTION FOR THE PM — AND BRITAIN
NO one has ever doubted Boris Johnson’s ability to charm the nation by playing the fool. He’s a man who can win friends dangling on a zip wire above the Thames, a Union Jack on a stick in either hand. Heck, he can even attract a round of applause by driving a bulldozer through a pile of bricks.
But yesterday he had to show he was a leader for hard times, as well as a court jester when a lighter touch is required.
When Boris arrived at the Downing Street press conference, he looked like a man who had suddenly felt the sharp, electric jolt of history coursing through his arteries.
The hair was parched, his face lined with deep ravines and his eyes – goodness, those eyes! As rheumy and wizened as an Old Testament prophet. It was as though all the ghosts of his future had just visited him at once. Well, I suppose 126,000 deaths will do that to a Prime Minister.
To think that 12 months ago, when the PM sat behind a desk in Downing Street and announced he was pulling down the shutters, he was smooth of skin and plump of cheek. He looked playful, boyish.
Now, on the first anniversary since he issued that historic stay-at-home dictum, his face looked as stretched and flattened as an old piece of leather. Bluster and bombast were notably absent. It was time for a few home truths.
Boris admitted the past year had been like fighting ‘in the dark’ against a ‘callous and invisible enemy’. With a resigned tone, he added he would be dealing with the fallout from Covid for ‘as long as I live’.
Beside the PM stood his two swooping angels of death, Professor Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance. Whitty had also been knocking back a bit of brutal honesty serum.
He gloomily observed that the virus was probably going to be with the human race forever.
Boris sucked his gums ruefully. And to think, when this is all over, the three of them still have an inquiry to look forward to.
It had been a day of sober reflection for all of our leaders.
Heading the tributes was the Queen, who spoke of the need to ‘pause to reflect on the grief and loss’ and ‘pay tribute to the immeasurable service of those who have supported us all over the last year’.
What a lodestar Her Majesty has been in a time of crisis. Has any world leader acquitted themselves as humbly? Has any articulated themselves as eloquently?