Boorish Johnson, Domestic Terrorist

There is one thing that is far worse than vitriol in politics – and that is sheer derision. Brexit Britain is now laughing out openly at the antics of Boris Johnson, the former Foreign Secretary and supreme champion of the Brexit cause.

And yet, the always entirely shameless and solely self-absorbed Mr. Johnson has stooped to new lows.

In a historic context, his recent antics bring to mind the powerful words of Senator Mundt who on June 9, 1954, during the Army-McCarthy hearings, questioned the infamous Joe McCarthy with these words: “Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?

In a succession of front page headline stories, Boorish Johnson:

• has just accused Prime Minister Theresa May of having wrapped “a suicide vest around the British constitution – and handed the detonator to Michel Barnier” – the amiable EU Brexiter negotiator;

• had his picture alongside those of a pretty young blonde Tory Party press officer more than 20 years his junior with details of clandestine meetings , pester messages and a pretty clear sense of an affair;

• announced his divorce this week from his lawyer wife of 25 years, mother of his four officially acknowledged children and the daughter of a legendary BBC foreign affairs correspondent, who everyone in the London salon scene likes;

• was said to be the subject of massive dossier listing numerous sexual adventures, cocaine sniffing, and even trying to organize a murder on behalf of an Old Etonian friend going back 30 years.

The so-called “War” dossier was prepared by Mrs. May’s closest aides after 2016 for when the moment came that Johnson would launch his bid to topple her.

he evidence collected was better than House of Cards and Monica Lewinsky combined.

Next stop for Boris: Trump’s and Fox’s America?

No wonder that many in London are now thinking that all Johnson has left is to use his American citizenship, derived from being born in New York when his father was an EU official there, and use his U.S. passport to sidle up to his brotherly flame thrower and co-equal self-delusionist, Donald Trump.

He can surely count on Rupert Murdoch to sign him up for a Fox News show, so that his inimitable bluster and verbal verve can shine appropriately and dig to new lows.

The suicide vest dig at Theresa May has left even hardened Johnson watchers in the Conservative Party reeling in horror. Sir Alan Duncan, MP who is Number 2 Minister at the UK’s Foreign Office, and served under Johnson tweeted:

For Boris to say that the PM’s view is like that of a suicide bomber is too much. This marks one of the most disgusting moments in modern British politics. I’m sorry, but this is the political end of Boris Johnson. If it isn’t now, I will make sure it is later.

Another Tory FCO minister, Alistair Burt, also hit social media to say:

I’m stunned at the nature of this attack. There is no justification for such an outrageous, inappropriate and hurtful analogy. If we don’t stop this extraordinary use of language over Brexit, our country might never heal. Again, I say, enough.

Meanwhile, the chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Ton Tugendhat, an ex-army officer who served in Afghanistan, said:

A suicide bomber murdered many in the courtyard of my office in Helmand. The carnage was disgusting, limbs and flesh hanging from trees and bushes. Brave men who stopped him killing me and others died in horrific pain. Some need to grow up. Comparing the PM to that isn’t funny.

Abandoned even by the fanatics

Normally, a phalanx of fanatical Brexiteers who want no compromise with the EU and are happy to crash out of Europe without any deal would leap to Johnson’s defense. Now, even they are muted.

British memories of IRA bombs and Islamist suicide vest terrorism are too strong for anyone to defend him.

To be sure, Boris Johnson and women is a saga going back more than 30 years to his Oxford student days. But suddenly, in the photos published on Sunday, Johnson is no longer the blond cheeky chap who gets around a lot and has a way with the girls.

He has aged visibly since he walked out of the Foreign Office in July after Mrs. May brought him back from political oblivion to give him one of the most prized posts in British politics.

Now, he looks like a disheveled dirty old man who still thinks he is irresistible to younger women and who can get away with saying anything because he is good at cracking Oxford Union jokes.

A shift in public opinion

As Britain’s trade unions meet this week for their annual congress, polls carried out among labor union members are showing a major shift by working class voters — away from Brexit. They clearly see the damage to jobs, trade, investment and income.

The wind may thus be leaving the Brexiteers’ sails with pro-Brexit newspapers unable to find excuses for Johnson any longer. At the same time, a witty spoof on Brexit hard-liners has gone viral on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

Britain is now openly scorning and laughing at the Boris’s brigade of Brexiteers. Despite the disgusting rhetorical bomb he hurled at her, this is the best news Mrs. May could possibly have.