If you want to know what empowered Boris Johnson to call for cabinet mutiny, you have to go back to Michael Gove

Today as if afraid that his brother Jo was getting all the Johnson-related headlines after his resignation on Friday, the former London Mayor has pushed the boat out even further: Getty
Today as if afraid that his brother Jo was getting all the Johnson-related headlines after his resignation on Friday, the former London Mayor has pushed the boat out even further: Getty

Of the many strange things that were said during the EU referendum campaign, the one that continues to resound is Michael Gove’s dismissive remark about the British people “having had enough of experts”.

At the time, it seemed an extraordinary contradiction. After all, expertise really just means being skilled or competent. The world couldn’t function without it. What’s more, politicians like Gove rely – and have always relied – on advisers and civil servants who have particular knowledge about certain subjects.

Perhaps what Gove really meant was that he was through with self-professed experts, maybe the kind who write newspaper columns – people like him in his previous career; and me I suppose. And like Boris Johnson.

Long before he left the cabinet in a huff over Brexit, Boris had personified the attitude that Gove infamously put into words. His entire shtick had relied on mixing buffoonery with eloquence to create the impression of a kind of characterful intellect – the sort of intelligence that could be put to any purpose but which would not be sidetracked into dull specialism.

During his term as mayor of London, Boris convinced a great many people that there was substance behind the elan. He got lucky in that the Olympics coincided with his term in office, giving the impression that he could host the greatest show on earth. His media-friendly bluster meant that “Boris Bikes” somehow stuck as the name for the capital’s cycle hire scheme; and the new Routemaster became the “Boris Bus”. Never mind that this was all like something out of nursery school – he was, apparently, getting stuff done.

The Brexit referendum win was Boris’s political apotheosis. And with Gove’s warning about experts ringing in people’s ears, it seemed almost certain than Boris – the exemplar of insightful intellect over blinkered expertise – would be the man to lead the UK into a golden age. And then Gove stabbed him in the back.

Perhaps Gove realised that expertise aids judgement. Certainly Boris’s subsequent reign as foreign secretary was marred with gaffes which brought his office into disrepute – the reciting of a colonial-era poem in Myanmar and the likening of former French president Francois Hollande to a Second World War prison guard were two particular highlights.

When he finally departed the cabinet in July, he wasted little time in picking up his old role of newspaper columnist, which enabled him to dispense with any semblance of government loyalty in favour of barracking from the sidelines (and getting paid a handy £275,000 a year). In the months since, he has caused a storm by writing that women who wear burqas look like letterboxes or bank robbers, and by comparing Theresa May’s Brexit plan to a metaphorical suicide bomb.

Today, as if afraid that his brother Jo was getting all the Johnson-related headlines resigning on Friday, Boris has pushed the boat out even further, calling on the cabinet to stage a mutiny against the prime minister, who he claims to be on the “verge of total surrender” to the EU over Britain’s departure.

Looking back at Gove’s “experts” remarks in full, it is to be remembered that he was referring primarily to economists. Indeed, he clarified the point in a subsequent interview, noting that the comments came in an exchange about the failure of economic experts and organisations to predict, and effectively deal with, the global financial crisis. Sure enough, the economic disaster of 10 years ago has a lot to answer for: it made people poorer; it led to cuts in public services and it indeed caused distrust of “experts”.

Nevertheless, Gove’s words resonated much more widely than that. He tapped into a much broader suspicion of anything related to the “establishment” or to “elites” – a sentiment which has bolstered the resurgence of nationalism and the rise of populist leaders. It was, indeed, a distrust of all things mainstream which helped sway the Brexit election. It got Donald Trump into the White House too. And who is to say it won’t eventually get Boris into No 10?

It has often been argued that one of the consequences of having access to so much information in the digital age is that we no longer know the limits of our knowledge. What is perhaps worse is that we no longer appear to care about the limitations of those who would represent us.