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In “The Godfather,†the book
that inspired a generation of corporate boardroom warriors, Michael Corleone dismisses his trusted friend Tom Hagen as an adviser to his family. “Mike, why am I out?†the mystified Hagen asks. “You’re not a wartime consigliere,†Corleone responds.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has the opposite problem. In Dominic Cummings, his chief of staff, he has the ideal “wartime†strategist for elections and campaigns. But what he needs now is a peacetime consigliere who understands how to be a conciliator — or at least someone who can speak softly while carrying a big stick. To achieve that balance, however, Johnson himself needs to understand what is at stake. The corona pandemic is undermining confidence in his ability to lead.
Johnson rejected the Labour opposition’s demands for a two week “circuit-breaker†over school half-term only a fortnight ago. Now he is imposing a full lockdown across England from Thursday. Libertarian MPs in his party are seething at the volte face. Opinion polls show confidence in his government’s ability to handle the crisis tumbling. This is the second time he has resisted a lockdown only to later cave to his medical advisers. A YouGov poll last week reported that only 4% of voters think the prime minister has done a good job managing the pandemic.
The electorate knows that there are no easy fixes to this crisis. But they expect a prime minister to communicate an understanding of their misfortunes. Downing Street is at last beginning to grasp the scale of the problem. Johnson made his first joint appearance on television with his partner Carrie Symonds during the Pride of Britain awards to praise health service staff for their courage and dedication.
The Conservatives were once known as “the nasty party†— the best you could say of them was that they were flinty-eyed stewards of the economy who believed in rugged individualism and freedom. For the last two decades, their leaders have been trying to prove they also have a heart.
Alas, in the space of two weeks Johnson has emerged from two political rows looking needlessly nasty. He seems to have a tin ear when it comes to combining strength with empathy. And whether in politics or corporate culture, empathy is the game in town.
Some recent snapshots illustrate the deficit. The prime minister’s negotiations with Andy Burnham, the Labour mayor of Greater Manchester council, to impose tighter coronavirus restrictions foundered in haggling over monetary compensation for the city.
The government then imposed its will with scant explanation and a dismissive line from Johnson. The offhand manner rankled a lot more than the paltry 5 million pound sum which separated the two sides. And yes, Manchester’s mayor was guilty of “virtue signaling,†but in politics that is often better than signalling the opposite.
—Bloomberg