Boris Johnson’s book on Churchill shows he has big shoes to fill

Shoes far too big to fill

FOR generations of Australians who learned from their parents and grandparents about the unmitigated disaster that unfolded on the shores of Gallipoli in April 1915, Winston Churchill evokes bitter memories. The gut-wrenching loss of so many thousands of young lives is seared into the Australian consciousness. Churchill was the principal architect of that unforgivable tragedy.

To others, Churchill remains a wellspring of inspiration and admiration. He saved the world from Nazi tyranny. He helped found the modern welfare state. He excelled as a speechmaker and won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He inspired Paul Keating to go into politics. John Howard is an admirer; his parents gave him “Winston” as a middle name. In Tony Abbott’s office, a Churchill painting hangs on the wall.

For London mayor Boris Johnson, the former British prime minister is the example, par excel­lence, of how “one man can make all the difference” and change the world. Churchill brings to a zenith Johnson’s ardent belief in the great man theory of history

“He, and he alone, made the difference,” Johnson argues in his new book, The Churchill Factor: How One Man Made History (Hach­ette).

“The Churchill estate, the Churchill family, wanted a book to coincide with the 50th anniversary of his death next year,” Johnson tells The Australian. “They saw something I had written a couple of years back about Churchill and they asked me whether I would write a new book. I wasn’t sure whether I would have time, but I found that the story was so unbelievable that I just got engrossed with it.”

The result is a lively and interesting study of the multiple facets of Churchill’s long life, his many contradictions, and his enduring policy and political legacy. From the influence of his parents and soldiering adventures, through a deconstruction of his oratory and an analysis of his contribution to literature, to the triumphs and tragedies of his political career, Johnson leaves few gaps.

“I think people will be stunned at the scale of the guy, the sheer moral courage that he had in 1940 to make that decision to fight on, how he was alone, how only he could have done it,” Johnson says of Churchill’s wartime prime ministership. “I don’t think people fully and perfectly remember it.

“I also think they will be amazed at his physical bravery and the early wars he was involved in. He was the only British prime minister to be fired at on four continents … I think people have forgotten also his role around the world in founding modern Iraq, Israel, the role he played in the creation of modern Ireland, it just goes on and on, the welfare state.”

However, Johnson is worried a new generation is growing ever distant from the towering Churchill. “People remember the second world war and they remember the speeches, vaguely,” he says. “But I think the sheer length and magnitude of his career is starting to be lost on people.”

There is another risk that some, including in the Tory party, have such a dewy-eyed view of the great man. Brash young conservatives see him as “a sort of divinity”. Politicians are in danger of failing to heed the real legacy of Churchill’s political career.

“I think he was a superb communicator,” Johnson says. “He was absolutely brilliant at getting his message across. He put things in very simple English when it was necessary. He was also the most unbelievable policy wonk. He knew his stuff. He wrote several thousand-word memos every day. So he had the information constantly flowing over his gills, as it were, he really knew it all.”

So if he were alive today, what would Churchill make of modern politics? Would he succeed in the speeded-up 24-hour media envir­onment and pervasive influence of social media, sen­sationalism and celebrity? “He would have loved all of that stuff,” Johnson surmises. “He would have been a terrific self-Googler. He would have tweeted. He loved technology.”

Historians are bursting into print to decry Johnson’s treatment of the venerated Churchill. The book is certainly not for everyone. There are many references to popular culture, odd metaphors and bold claims — some dubious. Yet this fresh take on Churchill has many passages of astute analysis. Johnson is unafraid to engage with complex topics and make sharp conclusions. He does so with a levity that often makes for compelling reading.

It is impossible to read The Churchill Factor and not find passages that seem to self-describe the author. Johnson notes Churchill’s “bullish eccentricity” and writes he was “his own man”. Churchill, much like Johnson, possesses a “protean political identity (that) enabled him to explode out of the straitjacket of party politics”.

So how much Churchill is there in Johnson? Not surprisingly, the author rejects any hint of comparison with his subject. “I have more in common with a one-eyed pterodactyl than Winston Churchill, or a three-toed sloth,” he says ­mischievously. “Churchill is a one-off … You are just left in stupefaction at the scale of the guy’s achievements.”

Yet both Churchill and Johnson worked as journalists and wrote books. They each served in parliament. They each had their share of scandals alongside achievements and failures, setbacks and comebacks. And they are larger-than-life political figures. Although some argue Johnson’s sometimes clownish antics pale in comparison to Churchill’s stately grandeur.

At a time when British voters are underwhelmed by Prime Minister David Cameron and unex­cited about his government, and there are lingering doubts about the lacklustre Labour leader Ed Miliband, many are looking to Johnson to liven up British politics. Johnson, having served as London mayor since 2008, is poised to re-enter parliament at the next election, perhaps only months away.

Johnson says Churchill looms so large in political life that nobody can compare themselves to him, even though some may dream they can emulate him.

“Churchill is incredibly influential on a huge number of politicians today from all parties,” he says. “People will use Churchill to justify almost any conduct.

“If you cry a bit, they say you have a Churchillian tendency to weep. Or if you drink a lot, you have a Churchillian tendency to get drunk. If you doublecross your colleagues, then you invoke Churchill.

“I think sometimes that’s a bad thing because none of us can really match up to him, nor are we required to. And that’s the real point. There is no need these days for politicians to be constructed on a Churchillian scale because thank goodness events don’t require that bellicosity. We don’t face the same kind of existential threat.”

In writing The Churchill Factor, Johnson visited many of the places where Churchill lived and worked: the Cabinet War Rooms in central London, Blenheim Palace where he was born and Chartwell, which he loved and where he wrote most of his books.

“I tried to put myself in his shoes as much as I could,” Johnson says. “I went to Chartwell loads of times, his beloved home in Kent, where I saw his studio, his desk. One time I actually went into the Cabinet War Rooms — you’re not meant to do this — but I sat myself down without invitation in the chair he had sat in and tried to imagine what it was like, taking some of those decisions he did.” Johnson asked Cameron to have his Downing Street team help locate exactly where the famous series of cabinet meetings in May 1940 — where Churchill convinced the doubters to fight on — actually took place. After some archival digging, they discovered that several pivotal meetings took place in the PM’s House of Commons rooms.

In early 2014 Johnson was named an Honorary Australian of the Year. He has great affection for Australia and has relatives who live in Sydney and Melbourne. He has visited several times. With 200,000 Australians living in London, he has described his job as also being the mayor of Australia’s 12th largest city.

Given the strong historical, political and cultural ties between Australia and Britain, Johnson wants to see “freedom of movement” between both countries without strict visa requirements. He says he has raised it directly with Abbott.

“We’re restraining numbers from Australia and New Zealand whilst we have absolutely unlim­ited access from 27 European countries,” Johnson says. “I just think it’s bizarre. Frankly there are many talented people from Australia that we need … I think the trouble is everybody is so leery of doing anything to make immigration easier anywhere.”

In The Churchill Factor, Johnson writes perceptively about the mixed attitude to Churchill among Australians. Churchill never vis­ited Australia but he thought about it deeply. Johnson writes that Gallipoli “is the number-one source of pom-bashing” among Australians. Nor have Australians forgotten Churchill’s clashes with John Curtin over the deployment of troops in World War II.

“In Churchill’s mind, Australia was indivisible from Britain; it was a crucial and integral part of the empire,” Johnson says.

“Gallipoli is one of those things that he did obviously with the best intentions. The hope was to get round the slaughter on the Western Front. He hated the carnage that he could see. He wanted a new solution.

“It wasn’t just the admirals who buggered it up. I’m afraid if you look at what actually happened, it is hard to see how it could have ever worked. So yes, I would agree with those who say the Gallipoli disaster has got to be one of the big black marks against Churchill.”

None of these substantial criticisms seems to have dulled Australia’s fascination with Churchill, especially among our politicians. Johnson recalls swapping Churchill anecdotes with Howard a few years ago.

“The lesson for politicians today is that when you think you’re right, stick to your guns,” Johnson says. “Of course there were moments when Churchill stuck to his guns and he was wrong. But on the things that really mattered, like in 1940, he was almost on his own and he stuck to it. And thank god he did.”