Tory Blair

Despite a dreadful pandemic, difficulties with Brexit and a trashed economy, Boris Johnson remains very popular, as last week’s local elections demonstrate. It is remarkable for a party of government to sweep so many successes in mid-term elections.

Mr Johnson is perhaps a new Tony Blair. Both men successfully appealed to sections of the population and constituencies which would not normally support their party. Both of their political careers appeared to be coated with Teflon- no matter what they did wrong, little stuck. Blair took us into a disastrous foreign war but then went on to win the 2005 general election which followed. Johnson has had questions raised about the funding of his domestic refurb. Okay, not exactly a foreign war, but it does suggest some murky goings-on, more of which are bound to follow. Both men vastly inflated the national debt in order to spend more in the short term, assuming it could all be repaid in the long. Both of them had capable political opponents (William Hague and Keir Starmer, respectively) whose fortunes simply could not compete with their respective prime minister’s popularity and huge majority. Although their personalities and styles are rather different- Blair slick and organised, Johnson apparently bumbling but ‘a good laugh’- they seem increasingly similar.

Blair, for all his charm and political success, is fondly remembered by few. It seems that political leaders can never retain their popularity and common appeal; it inevitably slips from their fingers like sand. Another example might be Margaret Thatcher, who, while winning three successive elections, remains a deeply unpopular figure for many, even years after her death. So if Tony Blair and Margaret Thatcher lost their sparkle despite impressive electoral successes, Boris Johnson’s decline will surely arrive sooner or later. It seems to be the fate of every popular politician to become disliked and despised. As their time in office wears on, their mistakes mount, their arrogance grows and hubris begins to show.

Jesus Christ is the direct opposite of this. Though He was, and is, despised and rejected, the more one serves Him, the more beautiful He appears. The more of our life we give Him, the more of His commands we obey, the more we subject ourselves to His government- the more lovely we find Him. We Britons will gladly endorse the likes of Thatcher, Blair and Johnson, who inevitably disappoint and screw up, but the cosmos’ perfect Ruler our countrymen would sooner shun and ignore. Some say that people get the governments they deserve; those in hell certainly achieve the regime they merit. The Christian gets the Ruler and friend he most certainly does not deserve. 

Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay