The Politics Behind Boris Johnson’s Strange Image
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LONDON — The great British resignation is here.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has resigned after two years and 348 days at 10 Downing Street. He served for the same time in office as Neville Chamberlain, who was succeeded by Winston Churchill in 1940.
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Johnson, who also is the Conservative Party leader, will be remembered for many things, including attending parties in the depth of the pandemic; enforcing post-Brexit immigration rules; hiking National Insurance from 12 to 13.25 percent in April 2022, and his signature slobbish aesthetic.
One of Johnson’s greatest assets in office has been his image. It doesn’t fit the mold of past prime ministers, which has traditionally been arid and clean-cut in navy blue suits and striped ties.
“He’s got an anti-fashion image because he deliberately dresses in a slovenly manner, presumably to indicate the fact that he doesn’t care about it, but that’s an image in itself,” said Alex Bilmes, editor of the British edition of Esquire magazine, adding that “if it seems accidental, it probably isn’t.”
Johnson’s mussed hair, furrowed white shirts and Hawaiian swimming shorts to run in are part of the endearing package that he’s curated so carefully since 2004 — and even before when he was an “ink-stained wretch” at The Times, The Daily Telegraph and The Spectator before becoming a Member of Parliament.
He plays to the machismo ideology that if one really cares about their presentation then it will put people off. And, for a Churchill-phile like Johnson, on a surface level it must look like it’s always about substance over style.
The nonchalant politician who undid his top button and occasionally rejected the tie came into the public eye during the mid-1990s under the leadership of New Labour. That was a movement wholly supported by former Prime Minister Tony Blair — who was always perfectly coifed and unwrinkled in dark navy suits — which had slowly started with the likes of Michael Foot, who went against the grain in his earthy hued suits and waxed country jackets.
The put-together style worked for Blair’s reputation, even post the Iraq war, when his dealings with former President George Bush have subsequently blackened his standing. He will always be immortalized as the handsome prime minister before he is judged for his choices in office.
Rupert Murdoch’s ex-wife, Wendi Deng, wrote notes about him, which Vanity Fair obtained in 2014: “Because he is so charming and his clothes are so good. He has such [a] good body and he has really really good legs.…And he is slim tall and good skin.”
A dandy exterior is a promising sign of how long someone stays in power. Emmanuel Macron spent 26,000 euros on makeup in his first three months as French president in 2017 and for his most recent reelection, he took vanity to the chest by baring his hirsuteness to the world (an unfortunate decision given it might stir comparisons to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is often photographed shirtless on horseback). Macron, along with his G7 counterparts, at last month’s 48th summit let loose by killing off the tie and stood in a single row on a plank of wood as if they were about to unveil a new Hollywood blockbuster at Comic-Con.
For a man of Johnson’s elite upbringing, his privilege to remain in power longer than 20 other prime ministers stems from the marrying of his schlubbiness with his Eton and Oxford education.
“It’s an antidote to Blair — someone who does dress smartly, always wears a tie and looks presentable by brushing his hair and doesn’t have dirty fingernails. He knows that it plays to his image, which is, as we know, one of chaos rather than order,” said Bilmes.
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