Many in Brussels know Mr Johnson from his time as a reporter there, when he spun exaggerated stories about the EU
time continental Europeans felt they were dealing with an easily readable, straightforward British prime minister was in the late 1990s. Tony Blair charmed his continental colleagues. He wooed the French in their own language, led fellow heads of government on a bike ride through Amsterdam during a Dutch-led summit and made common cause with fellow “third way” social democrats like Gerhard Schröder, Germany’s then chancellor.
The glow faded when the Iraq war sundered Mr Blair from the French and the Germans. Then came Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Theresa May, who were all harder to place. All three made nice at European summits but flirted with the Eurosceptic tabloids at home. Mrs May took office in July 2016 after the country had voted for Brexit. But who was she? She ruled out a second referendum—then considered the most likely outcome in some continental capitals—but did not seem to be “of” the Brexiteers.
Mr Johnson is familiar in other ways. Mr Cameron and Mrs May, the previous two Tory prime ministers, bumbled respectively into the Brexit referendum and through the Brexit negotiations, both treating the subject as fundamentally technocratic. By contrast the new prime minister deals in stories and emotions, styling Brexit as a test of the country’s mettle, an Odyssean quest, a heroic battle against the monsters of bureaucratic overreach, federalism and national stagnation.
Many Eurocrats were raised on British cultural staples such as Harry Potter, Midsomer Murders, Downton Abbey, James Bond and Monty Python. Mr Johnson would not look out of place in any of these imaginary worlds. He is a gift to those continentals who love the familiar clichés; who imagine Britain as an old-fashioned, quasi-Victorian society of rigid class differences, lip-curling toffs and shabby proletarians, absurd social rituals, public-school humour and eccentric colonial adventurers.
All of which bodes poorly for the looming confrontation. Mr Johnson has refused to travel to meet continental leaders unless they change the terms of the Brexit deal negotiated by Mrs May. He wants to remove the “backstop” that would keep Britain close to the, and Northern Ireland even closer, unless an alternative technological solution can be found to prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland. The’s leaders consider the matter closed. So no meeting has taken place.
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