In Brexit standard-bearer Boris Johnson, Britain has a new Prime Minister who says the UK’s exit from EU will happen by October 31, “do or die”. The former journalist and Theresa May’s foreign secretary who pushed for a “hard Brexit” has drawn a telling remark from an EU leader: “What next? Dracula as health minister?” There is an undercurrent filled with a foreboding of what the new PM may mean for Britain in this hour of grave crisis that many liken to Winston Churchill’s wartime stint. An avid Churchill admirer, Boris enters 10 Downing Street at a time his actions will determine if the UK can escape without economic chaos while exiting the EU. The question arises: is he the best man for the job as the Tories have a wafer-thin parliamentary majority in the middle of an open rebellion against Boris, who himself had undermined his predecessor Theresa May.
Across the Atlantic, Donald Trump boasts they like him in Britain, while comparisons to a conservative and populist PM, who was born in New York, abound in showmanship and a fondness for statements not always adhering to facts. “I want to have my cake and eat it,” is a political aphorism Boris has often used. It’s his idiosyncratic style of working as seen in his Foreign and Commonwealth Office days which may be a cause of worry. As his first wife was from India and Boris has spent time here, his familiarity with this country may be a plus point in India-UK ties that have been warm enough through thick and thin. Having declared the day of the Brexit referendum was Britain’s independence day, the new PM must deliver a Brexit, hopefully a soft one.
