Debate: Do Boris Johnson’s bumbles in his speech to business leaders really matter?

Barry Johnston of Purpose Union says Yes

The last time I heard someone talk about Peppa Pig and make car noises, it was my two year old nephew. It appears he’s now moonlighting as the Prime Minister’s speechwriter.

As we are all repeatedly reminded, Johnson lionises Churchill, so it’s odd he is so cavalier with his rhetoric and oratory.

There’s no record of Churchill ever making machine gun noises. Good leaders use words to paint a vision of a possible future. Great ones back this up with the ideas to bring that future into being.

Leave aside the audience of industry leaders the PM was addressing  are facing critical business challenges. Or that for the government to achieve any of its levelling up agenda, it will require a renewed partnership with an invigorated, sustainable private sector. 

Even from the narrow perspective of the PM’s own legacy, what will future historians make of his increasingly bizarre public utterances? Words fail.

Tom Lubbock of JL Partners says No

It doesn’t matter if you go to Grimsby or Great Torrington, ask people about Boris Johnson and someone will say he needs to smarten up. Even ardent supporters in focus groups will say he needs to fix his hair or tie, but deep down they really don’t mind. The people who vote for the Prime Minister are in on the character they think he is often playing.

Most who see his CBI speech will simply put it down as a case of Boris being Boris. But those who do clock that he was handed a speech out of its proper order will give him the benefit of the doubt for another reason – as they have done throughout the pandemic – it is a case of doing your best under difficult circumstances.

Until Boris’ opponents understand these dual moods of the electorate and stop shrilly overreacting, they will never properly define his real weaknesses for voters.