Boris Johnson's baby is the perfect symbol of his personality-driven politics | Martin Kettle

It would require a heart of stone not to be moved by such a story of illness and new life. But this is no apolitical birthLess than a month ago, Boris Johnson was close to becoming the first prime minister to die in office since the Victorian era. Today he is the third prime minister of the 21st century to be celebrating the birth of a new baby in No 10. It would require a heart of stone – and doubtless there are some of those where Johnson is concerned – not to be moved by this vertiginous private ascent from darkness into light. As a metaphor for the optimistic way the prime minister would like a troubled country to see the coronavirus crisis, it is beyond audacious. You could not make it up.Let’s acknowledge, if nothing else, that today’s announcement was a brilliantly executed piece of political tradecraft. The operation in Downing Street is still a lot smarter than many would like to think when they see it preside over those wooden and evasive daily briefings. That’s because, over the 24 hours preceding the announcement that Carrie Symonds and Johnson had had a baby son, No 10 played the media brilliantly. Continue reading…
Via: Boris Johnson's baby is the perfect symbol of his personality-driven politics | Martin Kettle