The last time I saw Boris at No10 it was like a reunion between two old friends. “Chris! We’ve been through so many triumphs together, “ the Prime Minister bellowed.
After a brief chat we parted with one of those peculiar manshakes, sealing our new best-buddy standing. Not.
We’ve never been that close, and I certainly don’t recall any shared triumphs. But it was Boris at his best.
Colleagues on rival newspapers there had indeed been on some closely shared adventures. So there was a touch of truth in the exchange.
That’s his style. And there’s the rub.
A touch of truth runs through much of the Prime Minister’s proclamations, boasts of past achievements and future promises. It’s pinning him down on the detail and what it really means, that’s the tricky bit.
(Image: Getty)
If you are at the head of a Government with an unassailable Commons majority and a programme to shake the foundations of the nation there ought to be some effective process of holding your feet to the fire.
All those half-truths need some proper scrutiny if democracy is to work and a slide into concealed demagoguery is to be avoided.
Strong government is one thing, but poor accountability is another.
This Prime Minister appears hellbent on both.
Both Parliament and the press are there to hold truth to power, and both are under attack.
In his first few months in Downing Street Boris has: ordered ministers to boycott the BBC’s flagship interrogative programmes, got behind plans to wreck the corporation’s independence altogether, delayed the setting up of the scrutinising select committee system in the Commons, refused to publish a parliamentary report on Russian interference in the UK electoral process, made No10 press briefings more inconvenient to discourage attendance, scrapped Brexit scrutiny and bullied Cabinet members into staying off the airwaves.
(Image: Getty Images)
The select committees of MPs, which shadow every department of state, are the parliamentary front line against the lament chorusing around the Commons, that Boris can “do anything he wants”.
Dominic Cummings, the maniacal mastermind behind Boris, is formally held in contempt of Parliament for refusing to turn up to face the Commons Privileges Committee last year.
An indication perhaps of Downing Street’s regard.
Boris himself has avoided being questioned three times. But the committees will be key to any check on his power. Come to think of it, there was one particular incident Boris and I shared which might be deemed a small triumph.
Reporting on a European summit in Luxembourg, we accepted an official flight within hours to another summit in a small war-torn country.
Boris managed to get his name on the front page of the same national newspaper from two different countries on the same day. Seemingly, he was in two places at once.
Without his feet touching the ground, or being anywhere near a fire.
