HENRY DEEDES: Boris Johnson is back to his positive best

Boosterism is back! The Prime Minister delivered his latest address to the nation on the coronavirus yesterday. His message was fizzy, frenetic, oozing optimism.

We have seen a rather different Boris Johnson than we are used to this week. The gravity of this disease has required him to occupy a persona in which he had not looked entirely comfortable.

Comedian forced to play the straight man. Cool kid made to wear geeky knickerbockers.

He’s looked frazzled at times. Bedevilled, even. At Tuesday’s briefing, he appeared at times mildly irritated that he was being outshone by his composed new Chancellor, Rishi Sunak.

The Prime Minister delivered his latest address to the nation on the coronavirus on Thursday. His message was fizzy, frenetic, oozing optimism

We have seen a rather different Boris Johnson than we are used to this week. The gravity of this disease has required him to occupy a persona in which he had not looked entirely comfortable

We have seen a rather different Boris Johnson than we are used to this week. The gravity of this disease has required him to occupy a persona in which he had not looked entirely comfortable

As he took his place at the Downing Street podium last night, it was like witnessing a frustrated footballer suddenly moving to the favourite position. Enough of this boring defensive rubbish, I’m off up front!

The virus, Boris announced, was beatable. ‘I am very confident that we’ll get this thing done,’ he said. ‘I am very confident that we’ll beat coronavirus.’

Back came the bluster, the hair-ruffling, the arm-waving.

Twelve weeks. That was his new target. In three months’ time, he reckoned, he could send this thing packing. Nor, he insisted, would there be any plans to shut down London.

‘We don’t know where we are, how long this thing will go on for, but what I can say is this is going to be finite,’ he announced. ‘We will turn the tide and I can see how we can do this in the next 12 weeks.’

His tone was defiant. No more perpetual doom and gloom. ‘With ruthless, determined, collective action and scientific progress, we will succeed,’ he insisted.

At Tuesday’s briefing, he appeared at times mildly irritated that he was being outshone by his composed new Chancellor, Rishi Sunak

At Tuesday’s briefing, he appeared at times mildly irritated that he was being outshone by his composed new Chancellor, Rishi Sunak

Earlier yesterday we heard Gordon Brown on Radio 4 encouraging the world to come together during these times of crisis. Whatever you say about glum-drops Brown, the ex-PM’s earnest, dark, cloudy tones are well-suited to times of crisis. He had poise, gravitas. (File photo)

Earlier yesterday we heard Gordon Brown on Radio 4 encouraging the world to come together during these times of crisis. Whatever you say about glum-drops Brown, the ex-PM’s earnest, dark, cloudy tones are well-suited to times of crisis. He had poise, gravitas. (File photo)

There was an acknowledgement that he is often accused of being ‘unnecessarily boosterish about these things’. Ah, that old word. You read it first in these pages last August as Boris described his policy of boosting public spending while cutting taxes.

But with uncertainty engulfing the country, is this what the people want to hear right now? Earlier yesterday we heard Gordon Brown on Radio 4 encouraging the world to come together during these times of crisis. 

Whatever you say about glum-drops Brown, the ex-PM’s earnest, dark, cloudy tones are well-suited to times of crisis. He had poise, gravitas.

With Boris, sometimes the slapstick appears out of place.

No one wants a clown squirting funeral guests with novelty flowers. And setting targets, of course, is always dangerous.

Promising to break the back of this crisis in 12 weeks is all very well. But what if he doesn’t? Sandwiched between the premier, as ever, were his two boffins, chief Government adviser Sir Patrick Vallance and chief medical adviser Professor Chris Whitty.

What a relief to see Whitty there. He has been missing these past couple of days. For a moment there, I thought he might have come a cropper.

Vallance was willing to strike an optimistic note… up to a point. The current measures, he said, ‘should be starting to have an impact on the rate of growth’.

Neither, however, seemed enthusiastic to endorse the PM’s bombastic new viewpoint.

Listening to them over the past few days, they seem to bracing for the long haul. My guess is the PM’s bold new tack made them distinctly nervous.

Meanwhile, over in the House of Lords, there was further gloom when Speaker Lord Fowler, 82, introduced the day’s proceedings by announcing he would be working from home as of next week.

Fowler reminded peers he had been in the Department of Health during the Aids crisis in 1986 where, as a minister, he followed the advice of public health officials. He would now be doing the same. 

Looking down at some of the frail creatures dotted around the chamber yesterday, it occurred that many of them should really be following suit.

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