When Boris Johnson was in contact with Steve Bannon in July, the message Donald Trump’s ex-chief strategist had for him was straightforward: man up. Step up to the plate. Get off your knees. You can imagine this unpleasant challenge to Johnson’s virility by the self-appointed guru of the populist right.
The apparent response has been no more pleasant to behold. Last month, the former foreign secretary was widely – and justly – condemned for writing that a Muslim woman wearing the niqab resembles “a bank robber” and that it is “absolutely ridiculous that people should choose to go around looking like letter boxes”.
In today’s Mail on Sunday he resumed his reckless use of political language, comparing Britain’s negotiating position with the EU on the Irish border to a “suicide vest”.
I find it nothing short of extraordinary that a politician seeking the highest office in the land should deploy such a metaphor, less than 16 months after the Manchester Arena bombing.
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