With Trump and Netanyahu wreaking havoc, Johnson’s fall makes clear that only former allies can destroy these strongmen
How do you kill off a strongman? How do you drain the political life from the brand of nationalist-populist leader that’s dominated politics across the democratic world in recent times? This week, we may just have got an answer.
Never say never and all that, but on Wednesday we watched the air go out of the Boris Johnson balloon, the former prime minister deflating before our eyes. While his fellow rightwing populists, the likes of Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu, continue to wreak or threaten havoc, it’s instructive to work out exactly what did for Johnson. It could even be a formula to follow.
Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist
