OPINION:
Hallelujah, Boris Johnson has risen! Like Donald Trump, he is indispensable.
Prayers have been answered for U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson. He is out of the ICU and on the road to recovery. This is outstanding news. Not just for the sake of his own country, but for our sake, too.
With national borders closed and lockdowns implemented, life feels pretty, well, “everyone for himself,” at the moment. But by the very nature of the U.S.-U.K. relationship, we need our most important global partner to have good leadership, stability and coordination now more than ever. And we need Boris, the man who is a great friend of the United States, the country of his birth.
His case has been sobering and upsetting, to say the least. So many on our side of the Atlantic, not least of whom, President Trump — who has offered American corporate pharmaceutical engagement — are sending good wishes.
While this shocking event builds upon the anguish of the larger pandemic, it sheds light on some provocative issues such as how governments operate in a time of instantaneous news distribution, and how different nations respond to a leadership crisis at the top.
Britain has been spared a tragedy. But just what happens when top leadership of our closest ally becomes incapacitated? The answer may surprise many Americans reading who might be tempted to answer that Mr. Johnson’s “vice prime minister” takes over, just like in the United States. This is not the case in Britain’s parliamentary system. There is no British equivalent to our 25th Amendment, which spells out the American leadership succession in the event a U.S. president becomes sick or worse.
Unlike American presidents, British prime ministers aren’t directly elected. They become the likely candidate to lead the country if they are the leader of the party that wins a majority. But they nevertheless must still be formally appointed by the monarch. In another divergence from our U.S. system, because of the nature of Britain’s unwritten constitution, the prime minister’s role is not spelled out distinctly in law and has evolved over time and necessity.
Some PMs do in fact appoint an official deputy prime minister, but neither Boris Johnson nor Theresa May did. Instead, Mr. Johnson has selected Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to act in his name — to serve as his “de facto deputy.” Under no circumstance does Mr. Raab automatically become PM. In the dreaded circumstance that Mr. Johnson has a prolonged absence, the queen, relying on the advice of her ministers, would have to select an acting PM until a new party leader was selected by Mr. Johnson’s Tory party.
Mr. Johnson is not the first PM to have become incapacitated while in office. Winston Churchill had a heart attack during his first term as PM and suffered a serious stroke during his second term.
But just as Churchill was essential to saving Britain from occupation and by extension to saving civilization from succumbing to fascism, Boris, is essential in the fight, and he certainly has used his hero, Churchill, as an example in the current fight of our lives.
Leading British historian, Andrew Roberts skillfully points out some very revealing issues about Churchill as a leadership example for the pandemic for both Britons or Americans. For example, to effectively push back against the reality of German invasion many Churchill policies that proved indispensable were seen as overreach and publicly despised.
School closures, rationing, volunteer service, economic nationalization, greater powers for police enforcement, etc. — in short for “massive incursions of the State into every aspect of British economic life,” were necessary for managing the emergency, were temporary. Boris’ intimate Churchill knowledge has given him a great advantage in leadership during the worst of times and has made him invaluable.
Staggeringly, Mr. Johnson and Mr. Trump, like Churchill before them, face unreasonable political and media opposition who wickedly try to damage them at the very moment they are containing damage and saving lives.
Boris Johnson is a remarkable individual who has been a good friend to Donald Trump and the United States. Against criticism, he unapologetically expressed admiration of Mr. Trump’s accomplishments during his campaign to be PM. Moreover, he is so valuable because of his unwavering belief in British exceptionalism that complements Mr. Trump’s own core approach.
In classic British fashion, even against dangerous illness, Boris Johnson carried on until doctors ordered him to stop. If his irrepressible spirit and the encouraging news of his improvement are any indications, he will be back and better than ever. And not a moment too soon.
• Lee Cohen, a research fellow of the Danube Institute, was an adviser on Europe to the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee.
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