Boris Johnson: A prime minister in a hurry
- Published
These are the decisions of a prime minister in a hurry.
One who is aware that he's up against the clock.
One who has to pull off - within a few months - what his predecessor could not manage over years.
The team surrounding Boris Johnson has been put together with one goal in mind - to help him keep the promise he's made, to see the country leave the European Union in good time.
Number 10 believes it shows strength of purpose - a new administration determined and willing to take decisions after years of drift and disappointment.
Brexit believers have the top roles. But it is not a cabinet made up purely of the most burning Eurosceptics.
Most of those around the table backed Theresa May's ill-fated deal, so they weren't part of the last stand. They are, in the main, pragmatists not purists - and with prominent former Remainers in there too.
It is perhaps a discernible step to the right - a team that could ready itself to fight a different kind of election, maybe soon, although that's not the intention.
Don't doubt though the scale of the change - one senior Tory described the wholesale clear out as a warped takeover. Another named the new cabinet a Rocky Horror Show.
It's a set of decisions put together to prioritise the task at hand, not to soothe nerves in those who doubt the new prime minister.
But the approach is vintage Johnson - delivered in haste, easy to revile, but a bold statement of intent that's impossible to ignore.
- Published24 July 2019
- Published23 July 2019
- Published23 July 2019