Boris Johnson: New Conservative Party Leader, Next UK Prime Minister

So that’s it. After much debate and acrimony Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson has been elected as the leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party, and by default the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and the north-eastern corner of Ireland the British refuse to give back to the Irish. And what can we expect from the controversy-shrouded premier? Given his erratic record in politics, and much else, your guess is as good as mine. Certainly the Democratic Unionist Party, the effective backdoor coalition partner of the Tory government, is non-too happy with the elevation of the mendacious MP, who represents the affluent suburbs of Uxbridge and South Ruislip, a rare Brexit-supporting constituency on the western fringe of London. Johnson has nailed his colours to the anti-European Union mast in the UK and his europhobic party membership will be expecting him to deliver on his promise of a speedy exit from the EU one way or another. The “other“ most likely being a no-deal Brexit or an economic and diplomatic leap out of Europe and into the unknown.

However, given his wily ways the former Mayor of London might decide to do a deal with Brussels and Dublin that finagles the provisions in the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement covering the Backstop Protocol, returning the peace-protecting clause to its previous “Northern Ireland” only status before the British government, under pressure from the DUP and its hard-right allies in the ranks of the Conservative Party, insisted on an all-UK application. Which led to the last year of governmental turmoil in Downing Street and parliamentary stalemate in the Palace of Westminster and inadvertently gave Johnson the opportunity to make a play for the premiership.

This is the main DUP fear right now, that Bojo the Great and Untrustworthy will shove the “union” off the cliff edge instead of the United Kingdom as a whole in return for a favourable deal with the European Union on behalf of the denizens of Greater England, possibly on the back of a snap general election. However given the political chaos and confusion that has reigned over our island neighbour to the east anything is possible over the next few months. In truth, none of us can really predict what is going to happen in the Brexit long game. Not even Boris Johnson.