Bruce Anderson

Boris’s next big battle is against the virus of socialism

Boris Johnson (photo: Getty)

We should always avoid misusing history to underpin exaggeration. Covid 19 is not Nazi Germany. However many qualities Boris has, he is not Winston Churchill. But this virus will pass. British politics will then enter a new phase. Oddly enough, there are parallels between likely developments during that future phase and the course of events in 1944/45. There are lessons which the Tory party ought to learn.

These divide into three categories: history, vision and personalities. In 1945, the Tories lost the battle of history, partly because their foremost historian, Churchill, had been a critic of the 1930s governments. Leaving the complexities of appeasement to one side, Labour’s record on rearmament was shameful. The party opposed it until we were in the very antechamber of war. That did not prevent Labour blaming the Tories in 1945.

Moving to future historical battles, the last few months already provide endless scope for recrimination, much of it justified.

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