Charles Dickens wrote his magnificent novel A Tale of Two Cities, about Paris and London, back in 1859. It’s the story of contrasting fortunes in two great capitals during the turmoil of the French Revolution. If there is a great Dickens-style novelist among us in 2024, he or she might write A Tale of Two Prime Ministers, about Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer, right now.
That would also be a tale of turmoil and contrasting fortunes. And that modern tale would reveal something much more than just the character of the two men involved. It would tell us about the character of politics in the UK today, leadership, media priorities and political turmoil.
We should begin the story by noting that after all kinds of internal problems, Mr Starmer’s chief of staff, Sue Gray, has been moved to a less controversial post. It comes after infighting at the top of the Labour party and a number of poorly handled responses to gifts and donations given to Mr Starmer by rich donors.
Meanwhile, Mr Johnson is publishing memoirs of his own turbulent time at the top. Judging from those who have seen advanced copies, the reviews may not be very positive. Opinions so far have included the idea that the book is just “boring” to the possibility that Mr Johnson, with a lifetime professional reputation for lying both as a journalist and as a politician, should have his memoirs on bookshelves marked “New Fiction”.
Mr Starmer’s controversial publications are about accountability. His accountability. He has published details of gifts, donations and expenses that MPs may receive and must declare. These include gifts of clothing and tickets to football matches (he’s a fan of the Premier League club Arsenal) and a Taylor Swift show. All this has proved more exciting than any Dickens novel to many journalists and commentators.
Ms Gray has been moved from her chief of staff job as part of the fall-out. It’s an entertaining mini-scandal for those who like those things. But what is more interesting is the contrast between the two prime ministers.
Mr Johnson, like Donald Trump in America, has built his reputation on being flamboyant, entertaining and not often accurate in his statements going back decades.
A modern Dickens would note that Mr Johnson was dismissed in the 1980s by The Times newspaper for allegedly inventing a quote from the historian Colin Lucas. In 2004, he was fired again, this time by the then Conservative party leader, Michael Howard, for lying about an extramarital affair. Then in 2019, Mr Johnson was accused of lying to Queen Elizabeth II about the prorogation – or suspension – of Parliament.
Truly, Mr Johnson would fit perfectly in a Dickens novel.
Mr Starmer is much less colourful. But when any politician accepts favours or gifts from very rich donors and others, voters legitimately wonder whether the Prime Minister is expected to be grateful in some way in return. Mr Starmer, in other words, needs to get a grip. Moving his chief of staff is one sign that he recognises the problem.
Personally, I have no objection to the Prime Minister of the UK and a long-time fan being offered a special secure box when he attends games at Arsenal’s stadium. Yet even if there was no wrongdoing and no breaking of any rules, it looks bad. And in politics if it looks bad, it is bad.
After a series of failed prime ministers, Mr Johnson was the biggest failure in modern times. That’s according to distinguished historian Anthony Seldon who has written books about every UK prime minister in history. He concludes of Mr Johnson that “we had the worst, most anarchic and chaotic premiership since Lloyd George created the modern office in 1916”. Mr Johnson’s mess then helped destroy the careers of his two immediate successors in Downing Street who in various ways failed to clean it up.
For the future, then, the big concern is whether Mr Starmer can get a grip. It’s been a rocky start.
For those of us who, like me, wish the UK to have a much closer relationship with Europe, it has been disappointing. But two of the most successful UK prime ministers of recent times, Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair, had a very rough first year or two. They found courage and got a grip as Mrs Thatcher emphatically did over the Falklands War, and Mr Blair did over the economy and his party.
I am also consoled by the genius of Dickens. He began A Tale of Two Cities with some of the most famous words in English literature. Perhaps our Tale of Two Prime Ministers is somewhat similar: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”
I’m hoping for belief, light and hope itself. I’m hoping.
