Never Apologise Never Explain

Will Boris Johnson’s strategy work again?

For exactly one week Boris Johnson attempted contrition. On the 12th January he gave as strong an apology as was possible without admitting that he’d technically breached any rules or guidance. Yes it was tendentious but at least he attempted to look vaguely apologetic and sheepish. He then disappeared into covid isolation while supporters reaffirmed the apology and said we needed to wait for the internal investigation. He re-emerged on Tuesday 19th to give a lengthy interview to Sky’s Beth Rigby. He was still trying to do contrition. He looked downcast, almost on the verge of tears at one point (“an act his ex-wives know well” as one Tory put it). Rigby skewered him to the point where he found himself pleading that no one had explained to him the rules that he himself had announced to the nation. It was painful to watch. Pitiful.

The Strategy Changes

At this point most commentators, me included, thought he was done. Even usually friendly papers were being heavily critical. Tory MPs were coming forward to say they’d put in letters. It looked like a matter of when not if. At PMQs on the 20th there was more trouble – Christian Wakeford crossed the floor and David Davis demanded the PM’s resignation. But even at this moment of highest drama, Johnson had very clearly and unsubtly changed strategy. Gone was the slightest sign of contrition and back was the blustering, aggressive PM, denying everything and on the attack. A persona he is far more comfortable with.  

This was very clearly a deliberate shift, one that was reinforced over the following week. Supporters ramped up their defence, mocking waverers and dismissing the charges as trivial in the light of bigger challenges. The right wing press came back on side to amplify this message (which may or may not have anything to do with No 10’s sudden interest in making big tech companies pay for newspaper content). At PMQs on the 27th there was a wall of noise behind an increasingly cocky PM whereas two weeks before there had been silence. I guessed at the time that Lynton Crosby’s firm had got involved in designing this fightback and Johnson told Tory MPs on Monday that they had been. (Though Crosby himself is making sure to maintain literal and metaphorical distance - he’s in Australia).