Could a party and a few rolls of designer wallpaper finish Boris? Well, a little tax return did for Al Capone

A lifelong Tory with decades of experience in Government offers the PM some sage advice – and a warning from history

IT’S a mere two years since Boris Johnson was uncorking the champagne, swept back to power with a thumping majority of 80. Not many Conservatives are celebrating right now. For a sizeable number, the Prime Minister is propping up the bar in Last Chance Saloon.

Widely regarded as a serial liar, Boris trails significantly behind a third-rate opposition in polls which also tell him that 75 per cent of voters refuse to believe his claims that last year’s Christmas parties at Downing Street somehow kept within the Covid rules.

What has it come to when one of his own backbenchers condemns the shambolic, contradictory coronavirus restrictions as an attempt to deflect attention from claims of incompetence and cover-up?

As the Prime Minister snuggles down with a toddler and a newborn daughter in one of the best wallpapered flats in Central London, let us hope that he will spare a few moments to reflect on a Rake’s Progress that has led him from triumph to near-disaster in a matter of months. Even the flat is turning into a source of discomfort. Who paid for the wallpaper? When did they do so, and why?

A trivial matter, you may think, but one which could lead to Boris being censured yet again. Could a few rolls of wallpaper end a prime ministership? Why not, when it was a little tax return that did for Al Capone? We’ll see.

As a Conservative of decades’ standing, I’m bewildered by a shambles which threatens not just the position of the Prime Minister, but the newly gained Red Wall seats, the Government itself and his own party to boot.

In reality, lots of Tory MPs have never held Boris in any great regard. They have clung to him because he’s a winner and a rock star who the public were prepared to indulge – even when caught out in conduct that would have destroyed the career of a less charismatic politician. But for how much longer?

Saving Boris will require ruthless action – from him.

He could start by telling the truth more frequently. Harold Wilson swept to victory in 1966 by an even bigger margin than Boris but was irrevocably damaged because of constant allegations of lying.

‘How can you tell when Harold Wilson is lying?’ went the joke. Answer: ‘His lips move.’

This is the sort of jibe that now besets Boris, and when a politician is the butt of such contemptuous humour the end of the road is normally in view. Boris’s evasions about his private life initially amused and diverted people. Not now. For all too many – burdened with rising taxes, steepling living costs and an endless tide of Covid gloom – the joke’s gone sour.

Then there are the people surrounding Boris, of whom ‘lightweight’ seems a generous description. He needs to change them, too.

Of course, leaders don’t need to be masters of detail, provided they have people close to them who are. Ronald Reagan, whom I knew quite well, was one of the most successful 20th Century American presidents even though his method was decidedly broad-brush. That is because Reagan, a chairman-of-the-board figure, had outstanding people around his table.

They included Jim Baker, another old friend of mine, who knew exactly what was what and kept the administration on track.

Experienced and determined back-up was vital to Margaret Thatcher, too.

I was lucky enough to be a protege of her deputy, William Whitelaw. He took no nonsense from Mrs T, however abrasive she could be. He took pride in telling her what she needed to know, often in tough military terms.

During the Falklands War, he told her: ‘Don’t shout at them when they bring you bad news, because they’ll never give you bad news again, and you need to know it.’

Margaret once memorably said: ‘Everyone needs a Willie.’

Who is Boris’s Willie? It seems to be a fellow devoid of redeeming features called Dominic Raab, who made such a mess of being Foreign Secretary. Does everyone need a Raab? I’m not sure anyone does.

Boris, as a highly intelligent man, must surely know that if he doesn’t want to do the detail, he has to have strong-minded, experienced and gifted people around him who do. A rickety Cabinet led by Raab and Priti Patel are no substitute.

I’d suggest, too, that Boris start recruiting some adults to key advisory roles at No10, and not sniggering teenagers.

Willie Whitelaw was the holder of a Military Cross for bravery. On the benches opposite, Denis Healey had been a beach master at Anzio. A sobering thought.

There are some gifted Cabinet Ministers in today’s Government, it is true, but shouldn’t we be seeing more of Rishi Sunak, an intelligent, financially literate and likeable man? Or Liz Truss, already on manoeuvres as the new Margaret Thatcher? At least Liz Truss is a Conservative. And what about Nadhim Zahawi, a successful businessman who knows how to get things done and is both eminently likeable and trustworthy?

If Boris is wary of tall poppies, he needs to grow up – and quickly. He might think the absence of an obvious successor will help him, but it ain’t necessarily so.

Boris the historian might like to consider the demise of another Old Etonian prime minister, Harold Macmillan, in 1963.

For all his wealth and smooth pragmatism, Macmillan was doomed. The tide had turned against him. His end was precipitated by Sir Nigel Birch, another Old Etonian and Conservative who

Conduct that would have destroyed a less charismatic politician If the Tories lose this week’s by-election the disillusion could be terminal

ignited a packed House of Commons by quoting an obscure Browning poem, The Lost Leader:

Let him never come back to us! There would be doubt, hesitation

and pain,

Forced praise on our part –

the glimmer of twilight,

Never glad confident

morning again!

When Macmillan did finally resign, there was no obvious successor and they had to go to the Lords to get Alec Douglas-Home. No one thinks that ended well.

Can there be glad confident morning again with Boris at the helm?

This Thursday sees a by-election for the safe North Shropshire seat of Owen Paterson, whom Boris – with typical clumsy recklessness – tried to save from the consequences of what a Commons disciplinary committee called an ‘egregious’ breach of parliamentary rules on sleaze.

If the Tories lose that, then the disillusionment could be terminal.

Boris is contemptuous of Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, but Starmer doesn’t always get it wrong. In an interview published on Friday, he pushed some clever buttons.

‘The question… for the Cabinet, for Ministers and for all Tory MPs is are they prepared to endure the next two years of degradation, of themselves and their party, being put out to defend the indefensible, and bringing themselves and their party into further disrepute?

‘Because this isn’t going to change – he’s unfit for office, it isn’t going to change.’

We await the Prime Minister’s response. Is Boris Johnson going to change? Only he knows the answer to that.