The Trials of the Prime Minister.

It was during Tony Blair’s departing statement to the House of Commons in July 2007, that the former Prime Minister said these ominous and enduring words:

‘’I have never pretended to be the greatest House of Commons man but I can pay the house the greatest compliment I can by saying that from the first until the last I have never stopped fearing it. The tingling apprehension I felt at three minutes to 12 today I felt as much 10 years ago and every bit as acute. It is in that fear that respect is retained’’.

It’s hard not to think about these words when analysing the current Prime Minister’s recent performances during Prime Minister’s Questions since the election of Sir Keir Starmer as leader of the Labour Party. Whatever you may think of Mr Starmer as a choice of leader of either the party or the country even the most ardent Conservative must admit that the last person on earth a Prime Minister wants to face on an off-day is the former Director of Public Prosecutions. Someone to whom the Old Bailey was a second home.

Imagine the deafening silence as the knock comes on the door of the Office of the Prime Minister. Boris Johnson emerges, forlornly trudging to the chamber to step into the dock. The socially distant parliament a shadow of its former barnstorming glory.

The defendant stood ready for questioning, unprepared and not on top of his brief — stony-faced with little audience to speak of. And as we reach 12 pm, Lindsey Hoyle utters those bone-chilling words ‘I now call on the Leader of the Opposition. Sir Keir Starmer’’.

You’ll forgive the tired metaphor but there are serious grains of truth underpinning the picture I have just set out.

For the Prime Minister, things have changed irrevocably. And it’s important that he, and more importantly his advisor Dominic Cummings, get on top of things — immediately. If he is unable to sustain questioning from the Leader of the Opposition now — in the embryonic stages of the coming recession — it’s going to be a very, very long 4 years for Boris Johnson.

For example, during Prime Minister’s Questions, the Prime Minister announced that the government would be launching a ‘’world-beating’’ test and trace system by June 1st. We are now on the 19th June, and according to ITV News (amongst others), 1 in 4 of those suspected to have been in contact with a person with the virus has not been contacted. On top of this, Matt Hancock announced, this week, that the centralised contact trace app designed for use by the NHS is to be scrapped in favour of a model built by tech-giants. This is not ‘world-beating’. This is not even ‘effective’, the even lower bar that the Leader of the Opposition set for the government.

And unfortunately for the Prime Minister, despite the décor, the House of Commons is not the Oxford Union. In this chamber, words matter and he can expect that these words will follow him around until the system is fixed. If I were Dominic Cummings, I would be exasperated at the Prime Minister’s insistence on announcing arbitrary dates and targets as a short-term fix.

Has the government genuinely met even one of these targets so far?

And, like it or not, history is cyclical by nature. And more abhorrent to our intuition: history can and does repeat itself. And one can’t help but draw parallels between Boris Johnson and Sir Winston Churchill. But not, I’m afraid, the kind of comparisons that Mr Johnson craves.

Week after week, PMQs after PMQs, Mr Johnson looks every bit the war-weary Prime Minister that Churchill was on the campaign trail for the 1945 election. Churchill was unable to fully grasp the post-war desire for change, one unimaginable in the years leading up to the Second World War. Out of touch with his people and unable to rely on past glory to see him through.

Is history repeating itself?

For example, who can say, with complete honesty, that 6 months ago they would have expected the Daily Mail to support Marcus Rashford’s campaign for summer-long free school meals? But here we are. Times have changed. And with every U-turn, Johnson looks less and less able to set the agenda and able only to follow in its wake.

Two key challenges now await the Prime Minister in his interactions with the Leader of the Opposition. To get on top of his brief. And get on top of the mood of the nation. He’s always been better at the latter than the former. At the moment he is failing in both.

Because as the Leader of the Opposition said today… ‘’If the Prime Minister wants to swap places, I’m very happy’’. And with the growing popularity of Rishi Sunak, Chancellor of the Exchequer, one can’t help but wonder if someone closer to home is lining up the seat themselves.

Written by Joseph Costello

Joe spent 10 years as a touring musician before going back into education to study history and politics at the University of Durham. He now spends his time working in communications and writing about various political issues.