In a Word ... Truss

Next Tuesday will mark the end (we hope) of Boris Johnson as British prime minister, for which small mercy let us be grateful. He has been no friend to this island. That is, of course, if he continues to accept the decision that he should stand down as PM.

Who would be surprised if he yet attempted a coup along the lines of what Donald Trump tried in Washington last year? It is difficult to see him go gentle into that good night. Or “get lost”, as the late Cardinal Desmond Connell advised retired bishops.

Regardless, there will remain for some time yet that funny, familiar, uneasy, feeling that “he hasn’t gone away you know”.

Johnson was, easily, one of the worst British prime ministers in history and also one of its most significant — in a bad way — because of Brexit.

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That he has left Britain worse off than before he took office in July 2019 is not in doubt, except among narrow members of the Tory party — in the shires and the Commons where delusion reigns supreme.

But his era isn’t over. It seems it will be continued by his likely successor Liz Truss, a lighter shade of Johnson and with a similar flexibility. It was Churchill who said that “a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds”. No one could accuse Truss of a foolish consistency — former Lib Dem, former Remainer, that she is.

She is the exemplar par excellence of ambitious inconsistency.

There was always a sense that she would do best with the mainly white, middle-aged, male Tory membership in the shires. Could they really be expected to elect Rushi Sunak, the son of an Indian doctor, as leader of the party and prime minister? Who do you think they are? Irish? You hobgoblin!

No friend of Ireland either, Truss will be Britain’s fourth prime minister in six years, (Cameron, May, Johnson, Truss). All down to Brexit. Its previous four PMs (Thatcher, Major, Blair, Brown) ruled for 31 years. And Britain’s next prime minister is likely to take office in January 2025 at the latest, following the next general election there.

It could happen sooner. Let’s hope so.

Truss, from the old French verb trousser, for “to truss or bind”. Also for “professional hunter of wild animals!”

inaword@irishtimes.com