A distrusted candidate replacing a fatally wounded prime minister... the attraction seems obvious for Boris
When Boris Johnson delivered his closing line in Manchester yesterday – calling the British public a lion and saying “it is up to us now [...] to let that lion roar” – it was more than just a rallying cry or a slightly out of place metaphor. It was, in fact, a significant and symbolic reference to his great hero, Sir Winston Churchill.
Behind the bumbling outer persona and the apparent gaffes, Johnson is a calculated speaker who places great importance in his public appearances, none more so than his now yearly speeches to the party faithful.
Having endured many months of criticism since the EU referendum, and particularly in the weeks building up to conference, this was his chance to restore some prestige with an audience of those who love him most.
For such an important occasion, it makes sense that Johnson would turn to the man he admires most for inspiration.
Today we often think “bulldog” when we see images of Churchill, a perennial cigar perched between his lips and two fingers raised in a V for victory, but he was also often compared, and compared himself, to another resolute animal: the lion.
Johnson’s own biography of Churchill, The Churchill Factor, carries on its cover a close-up of arguably the most famous photograph of Britain’s wartime leader, taken in Canada in December 1941. It depicts the prime minister glaring down the camera and exuding rock solid determination.
Yusif Karsh, the photographer, named the image The Roaring Lion, because, having surreptitiously plucked Churchill’s cigar from his mouth and triggered the ensuing glare, the prime minister shook his hand and declared: “You can even make a roaring lion stand still to be photographed.”
That Johnson would seek to channel the man who led Britain during its greatest triumph makes absolute sense. After all, in successfully delivering Brexit, Britain faces what many term its greatest challenge since the war.
Even more so, the Foreign Secretary may see more than a little of his own position today in that of Churchill’s. When Neville Chamberlain resigned as Prime Minister in 1940, Churchill was hardly acclaimed unanimously as his successor. In fact, the Lords was completely silent when it heard the news.
He was deeply unpopular among the Conservative Party and the British establishment, and it took much effort to win them over.
A distrusted candidate replacing a fatally wounded prime minister at an hour of great need; the attraction of the tale for Johnson seems obvious.
Yet, in choosing the line he did, Johnson seemed to be channelling another very specific moment for inspiration.
While the great speeches and deep resilience of wartime Churchill offer a rousing example, the Foreign Secretary’s letting the lion roar line appears to allude to a much less celebrated time in Churchill’s career, and one with much greater significance to Johnson today.
In November 1954, Churchill, in his second administration, celebrated his 80th birthday. Both Houses of Parliament came together to celebrate, but Churchill was a man under pressure.
He had suffered a stroke in 1949, and by December 1951, the King was considering asking him to step aside for Anthony Eden. In 1953 he suffered a second stroke, and had slowed down even more noticeably than after the first. In every direction he turned, he found those who wanted him to retire, and make way for the next generation.
Nevertheless he attended the birthday celebrations, and when asked to give a response he chose to celebrate the British public, stating it was they: “Who had the lion’s heart. I had the luck to be called upon to give the roar.”
Johnson himself has faced many calls to resign, and rumours that he will quit, especially after his piece in this newspaper setting out his optimistic vision for Brexit. And in channelling the Churchill of 1954, he may have been searching for some inner steel.
But Churchill did resign a few months later. And it is another prime minister, facing calls from every side to stand down, resign, step aside and let a younger, more energetic man take the job, that Boris Johnson may have been thinking of when he chose that line. For once, Boris may not have been picturing himself as Winston Churchill, but as Anthony Eden.