Don’t lie to parliament. Don’t reduce government to a trashy carnival of incompetence, sleaze and mendacity. He also offered this tip: “Focus on the road ahead, but always remember to check the rear-view mirror.”
That was sound advice. The rear-view mirror of the next prime minister will be filled with an attention-craving, angry, bitter and menacing presence. Mr Johnson himself will be breathing down her neck. We know from every unrepentant word he has uttered since Tory MPs acted to evict him that he burns with vengeful resentment. We know he sees himself not as the architect of his own downfall, but as the victim of ungrateful rats.
Having dreamt of a decade at No 10, he has ended up as a three-year prime minister, which is hard for his monstrous ego to endure because it is only half as long as David Cameron, his rival since they were denizens of the Bullingdon Club. “Hasta la vista, baby,” he signed off from the dispatch box, an unsubtle signal that he thinks he could contrive a Berlusconi-like return to power.
He will be encouraged by the thought that he has been written off many times before, only to stage comebacks everyone else thought impossible. The quest may well be a fantasy, but his pursuit of it will fascinate his party and the media in a way bound to distract and destabilise his successor. A man whose only loyalty is to himself will not care a jot about that.
Denne historien er fra September 09, 2022-utgaven av The Guardian Weekly.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra September 09, 2022-utgaven av The Guardian Weekly.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Starlink's conquest of the Amazon leaves Brazil in a dilemma
The helicopter swooped into one of the most inaccessible corners of the Amazon rainforest. Brazilian special forces commandos leaped from it into the caiman-inhabited waters below.
Dalai Lama's mountain town feels the strain of tourist boom
SUVs and saloon cars pass slowly along McLeod Ganj's narrow one-way Jogiwara Road, blaring horns at pedestrians and scooter riders and playing loud music.
'I am all the world' The brutal rule of a West Bank settler
Palestinians tell ofblacklisted Yakov's reign across the Jabal Salman valley and heisjust one of many violent bosses
Stormy waters New flashpoint emerges in South China Sea dispute
Hopes that tensions in the South China Sea might ease have been short lived.
'Justice delayed' Why trust in public inquiries to bring closure is fading
After the final report of the Grenfell fire inquiry was published, Hisam Choucair, who lost six family members in the blaze, said: \"We did not ask for this inquiry... It's delayed the justice my family deserves.\"
Celeriac soup with almond pangrattato
I'm not ashamed to say that as soon as September hits, my stick blender comes out. Just as I embrace salads when the clocks go forward in the UK, I wholeheartedly throw myself into soup season once the summer holidays end. Autumn is approaching in the northern hemisphere and I'm ready with my ladle. Celeriac is one of my favourite soup heroes, because it gives the creamiest, silkiest finish with little effort. You don't have to make the almond pangrattato, but it is a wonderful addition.
Are smoke signals telling me to make an oil change in the kitchen?
Should you that is, not can you) cook with extra-virgin olive oil? Antonio, Atlanta, Georgia, US
Going underground
A darkly humorous encounter between an American spy-cop and the members ofan eco-commune she is hired to infiltrate
All work and no play
Hard Graft, a powerfulnew London exhibition, focuses onworkers’ exploitation, from the ruined hands ofa washerwoman to mothers forced to sell their bodies
What the princess and the shaman tell us about hereditary privilege
It should have been an Instagram-perfect wedding image, but it turned out to be something more embarrassing.
