Just Boris – Book Review

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Welcome to my annual book review.

I was a huge fan of Boris, so I thought I should read a book
to understand more about him, what drives him, what has made him the
fascinating character that he is and find out more about this loveable
genius.  Who doesn’t love Boris?  I have long had a desire to get to know more
about him.
Disappointedly I think less of him now I have read the book
than I did before…though I did have him down as total genius world saviour.
I don’t like infidelity. 
I like to believe that I can trust people and I need to feel that I can
trust my political leaders.  I accept
that mistakes can happen, nobody is perfect and I try not to judge other’s
personal lives because you don’t always know all of the details but repeated
affairs whilst married (I had previously ignored the ‘rumours’) have tainted
him in my eyes.
More importantly though, what does he actually stand
for?  Apart from self-promotion and
wanting to be ‘World King’?
It is difficult to see an over-riding ideology from a kind
of liberal-Conservative, an anti-EU pro-European, a man of the people yet a
friend of so few.
He didn’t exactly contribute particularly as an MP for Henley.
What is his legacy in London?  Boris Bikes? 
Shiny buses?  A cable car to
nowhere?
And then a total abject failure when the riots kicked off –
but upon his homecoming, the magic dust shone as he single-handedly stopped the
riots instantaneously when he picked up that broom.
However I still love Boris.
Who cannot love a politician willing to go on a zipwire in
full public view and get stuck – for any other politician that would have been career over – for Boris that was another notch up the popularity rating.
I wouldn’t want him running the NHS or education.  But being a leader is different.
Being a leader requires an ability to take the people with
you – Boris can touch and inspire different parts of society and bring people
together like most Tories cannot.
The book itself is well-written and very well researched,
with so many interesting contributors.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the book for a layman
such as myself are the introductory chapters, particularly his schooling, and
being able to compare a shockingly different schooling to the comprehensive that I experienced.
If you have no interest in politics then you are unlikely to
enjoy this book.
But despite Mrs G on Amazon having to give up a quarter of the way through, finding it hard
going and unable to understand most of it, “as it is based on his early
life in Eton and has a lot of political jargon which is ok if you are
Cambridge or Eton educated”, I didn’t actually find it hard going but maybe that was because of how well educated I woz in the worst school in Hull.
Sadly it does do the age-old “fair socialist” trick of being
a balanced story, both praise-worthy and critical where required, except in the
last couple of chapters where she goes all-out on the attack to leave the
reader with a tainted view of the future-legend.
Even though I see through it, I have also seen through
Boris.  I still love and greatly admire
him, but I am now aware of his imperfections too.
Will I vote for him in the next Conservative Leader
election?  2020 is a long way away.

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