This archive report was first published on 8 October 2019.
Published on October 8, 2019, as the UK and EU continued to clash over Brexit, analysts warned that Boris Johnson's Conservative Party was pursuing a scorched earth strategy to shift blame for a potential Brexit delay.
With an election looming, Johnson's team aimed to portray him as a victim of circumstance, rather than the architect of the UK's Brexit woes. This narrative would allow him to deflect criticism and blame others for any perceived weaknesses in his dealings with the EU.
According to Jonathan Faull, a former senior official in the European Commission, Johnson and his chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, were driven by a desire for an election and the best possible circumstances in which to hold it. 'What drives Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings is that they want an election,' Faull said. 'They also want the best possible circumstances in which to hold it, and that is a blame game.'
Charles Grant, director of the Center for European Reform, noted that Johnson's strategy was all about constructing a narrative of 'the people versus the elite.' 'They understand theater in Downing Street,' Grant said, 'and the theater of 'the people's Boris' being pushed around by out-of-touch judges and other European Council leaders, suits his narrative.'
A survey by ComRes found that only 56% of voters would blame Johnson if Brexit did not happen on October 31, while 83% said they would blame Parliament.
