‘I’m going to stick ruthlessly to script,’ says Boris Johnson. ‘This is not the stage of the campaign when you innovate.’ He’s right to worry about the timing. The new Tory leader won’t be chosen for just over two weeks but the ballot papers go out this weekend. Boris is the odds-on favourite. This is the most important week of the campaign and he’s determined to come across as a serious, game-changing leader, not the loveable yet unreliable joker.
The old Boris would mess up his hair before going on television. Today, when we meet in his House of Commons office, he quickly puts on a jacket — as if getting dressed for a job interview. He’s making a sales pitch. ‘Years of watching this thing decay, three years of drift and dither, have filled me with not just an understanding of government but also a very clear picture of how to get it done,’ he says. ‘My determination burns with a magnesium brightness to get it done and to deliver.’
The ‘it’, of course, is Brexit, which he defines as leaving the EU on 31 October, come what may. But how? He has been accused of being light on detail — something Jeremy Hunt, his opponent, has sought to exploit by setting out a detailed no-deal plan. Boris says he also has a plan and offers four points. The first: to legislate to protect the rights of all EU citizens living in the UK. Next, to compensate the farmers who might be affected by a no-deal Brexit. Thirdly, to prepare small businesses who export to the EU to get ready for a new regime of heavier paperwork should no deal happen. Finally, restore power-sharing to Northern Ireland — something that is, he admits, easier said than done.
If there is a no-deal Brexit, he says, the UK will be ready.
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