The exposé in the newspapers that Boris Johnson wrote an article extolling the virtues of the EU a couple of days before throwing his weight behind the leave campaign has done little to dissuade me from the belief that Boris's involvement as a figurehead in the referendum was for the good of Boris, not for the good of the nation.
Boris's explanation that he wrote the case for and against to focus his own mind is barely plausible and had he done so he might have said so at the time, even used the work as an example of his own deeply thoughtful and careful analysis, instead of. presenting sound bites and fear of Turkey.
I think both Boris and Mrs May were looking out for the main chance, Mrs May appears merely to have been more sophisticated in her playing of the political game. Nominally a remainer, to protect her position as Home Secretary if Cameron won, she nonetheless said as little as possible so she could position herself for the top job if it all ended in tears.
Boris's approach was a little more transparent. Mrs May has been quite clever in some ways, or maybe that should read devious. By making Boris Foreign Secretary she's given him something to lose and kept his loose cannonness close to her and under the microscope, whilst the appointments given to David Davis and Liam Fox leave Boris with much less he can meddle with.
If you're a fan of Machiavelli and feel that hypocrisy is just a stock in trade for politicians then you'll be well pleased with Mrs May and her cabinet, but be prepared for three years or more of turbulence, inflation, currency fluctuations and in the end a weakened UK.
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