“He who wields the knife never wears the crown” goes the old saying. Boris Johnson gave it a new stunning dimension Thursday by announcing that he, despite effectively leading Britain’s vote to leave the EU, would not stand to be Prime Minister.
A string of MPs backing him to take over from David Cameron, plus journalists gathered at a London hotel, had expected Mr Johnson to confirm his candidacy after acting as figurehead for the successful Brexit campaign.
But at the end of an 11-minute speech trumpeting his achievements as London mayor and outlining his vision for Britain, Mr Johnson dropped his bombshell — he would not stand.
“You couldn’t make it up,” Conservative MP Nigel Evans told the BBC. “It makes House of Cards look like Teletubbies.”
One Johnson supporter, Nadhim Zahawi, thought it was because of the surprise announcement by Michael Gove, Mr Johnson’s fellow Brexit campaigner, that he would stand.
Mr Gove, the bookish Justice Secretary who was regarded as the intellectual architect of the “leave” campaign and had previously ruled himself out of the race, shocked the country’s political establishment Thursday morning by announcing that he, too, would enter the fray. Soon he launched a stinging attack on Mr Johnson, saying he “cannot provide the leadership” which Britain needs.
The race that had been shaping up was a likely standoff between Mr Johnson who favoured “leave”, and Theresa May, the no-nonsense domestic security chief who had backed “remain”. Mr Gove was expected to serve as Mr Johnson’s campaign manager, uniting the two men who had been the most prominent Conservative backers for Brexit. But he apparently had a last-minute change of heart.
The charismatic former London Mayor entered the hall to whoops and loud applause from supporters and at first showed no sign he would step back from the chance of a job he has reportedly craved for most of his life.
He trumpeted his role in making London Europe’s most dynamic city and could not resist a dig at the EU. “More visitors going to the British Museum I’m told than go to the whole of Belgium,” he quipped. “Not that that’s got anything to do with Brussels.”
The only indication that he might not stand came with a reference to Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar. At one point, he seemed to paraphrase a line from the play — in which Brutus kills Caesar and later commits suicide but is hailed as a Roman hero — by saying he would not “fight against the tide of history”.
After Mr Johnson outlined his vision of Britain’s relationship with the EU after its departure — access to the single market and a points-based immigration system — the crowd was poised for an announcement. It came — but it was not the one they were expecting.
“I must tell you my friends, you who have waited patiently for the punchline of this speech, that having consulted colleagues and in view of the circumstances in Parliament, I have concluded that person cannot be me,” he said.
This provoked cries of “Oh!” and a din of camera shutters as photographers jostled to get their shots.
The 52-year-old left the building through a door whose emergency exit sign aides had covered with a sheet of paper to prevent embarrassing pictures in Friday’s newspapers.
Shell-shocked Conservative MPs struggled to explain the decision — dubbed “Boxit” online.
