PM's Record Proves His Willingness To Take Risks Pays Off

‘Johnson has succeeded before against even greater odds’

- Leo McKinstry

THE HABIT of underestimating Boris Johnson is one of the most persistent mistakes in British politics. Throughout his career, he has been, not a bumbling clown, but a daring buccaneer, repeatedly seizing the initiative, crushing his rivals, and confounding expectations with his successful gambles. He proved that with Brexit, which he delivered after years of stalemate at Westminster.

Now he is at it again as he sets the agenda on the future of the health service. Before he launched his proposals for a massive injection of cash into the NHS and the social care sector, paid for by a new 1.25 per cent levy on National Insurance, the air at Parliament was thick with talk of Cabinet revolts and backbench rebellions. Much of the media spoke feverishly of dark troubles ahead.

Yet he emerged triumphant as his critics were left floundering. In typical, swashbuckling style on Tuesday, having secured the backing of his Cabinet, he persuasively set out his case in the Commons for tax increases to expand the Covid-battered capacity of the NHS and reform the crisis-hit social care system.

Contrary to the over-excited forecasts, Tory protests were muted, while Labour’s response could not have been more incoherent, epitomized by a lacklustre speech from the leader Sir Keir Starmer.