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  1. The Staggers
19 June 2023

Is Johnson now so different from Trump?

The Conservatives have failed to learn from the Republicans’ mistakes.

By Lewis Goodall

I used to resist the comparison between Donald Trump and Boris Johnson. They were too easy, too obvious, lacking subtlety. Though it seemed they were riding similar (political) waves, the individual surfers were quite different. Their motivations were different.

But I’ve had to reassess. As the years have passed, it is clear that Johnson has morphed into someone else, moving further in Trump’s direction. Perhaps he always had it in him, perhaps he has fed off Trump’s energy, or been inspired by the latter’s sense of impunity. This process reached a culmination in Johnson’s parting gift to parliament, a resignation letter torching the institution and its processes, of which he was once custodian. Read it aloud in Trump’s voice – his stresses and rhythms – and you wouldn’t think twice.

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