After months of turmoil and uncertainty, the United Kingdom finally has its new prime minister. Boris Johnson resides in 10 Downing St. and is now undoubtedly one of the most powerful men in the world. Of the 55 Britons to hold the position of prime minister, he already ranks as one of the most colorful.
Johnson combines a larger-than-life personality with a politically incorrect sense of humor abhorred by his opponents but loved by many on the political right. He’s been derided by leftist critics as a “buffoon,” and his lifelong leadership aspirations were laughed off and ridiculed as fantasy by the British press and even some Conservative members of parliament. To top it all off — literally — Johnson sports a devil-may-care tousle of bright blond hair.
Yet against all the nay-sayers and cynics, he’s made it. Britain may not be fully ready for Boris, but Boris is ready for Britain.
The quick take from many in the press is that Johnson is a sort of “British Trump”—albeit shorter (5-feet-9-inches to Trump’s 6-feet-2-inches). More accurately, Johnson has more in common with both Winston Churchill and former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.
Resembling Churchill
Though few men dead or alive can compare to Sir Winston Churchill, Johnson bears more similarities with Britain’s wartime leader than at first glance. Both leaders have an American connection — Churchill, on his mother’s side (Lady Churchill was from Brooklyn, New York), and Johnson himself was born in the Upper East Side of New York City while his father was studying at Columbia.
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11.28.2024