Daily Times

Boris Johnson is an American-born British journalist and a politician who became prime minister of the United Kingdom in July 2019 as a result of a Conservative Party Leadership contest. He has always been a cheerleader for Brexit but, he is not an isolationist. His only interest is to manage Global Britain on the terms of the United Kingdom. Earlier he served as the second elected mayor of London and as a secretary of state for foreign affairs under Prime Minister Theresa May.

Regardless that Boris Johnson acquired office just a while ago and it has been just a short span to study, in order to understand his characteristics of distrusting other individuals, yet these few months are enough to argue his remarkably high level in this particular trait. Boris is known as a leader who prefers an argument of “No ifs, No buts”, in fact the guardian highlights that he keeps a small circle of like-minded colleagues, who reportedly calls him “clever” and “man of intelligence”; around him so that no one disagrees to his suggestion and recommendations.

Such is the depiction of his predilection of personally accordant individuals around him, that on taking responsibility he immediately shuffled the cabinet of his predecessor. Eighteen out of twenty-nine ministers were out of a job over the span of just one day, Boris made it sure that only those who agree to his agenda of BREXIT (with or without a deal) shall be at the center of his cabinet. Moreover, his attitude on blaming “others” for not yet reaching a deal is also an expression above-mentioned trait. Boris Johnson has repeatedly blamed his opponents at parliament and policymakers at Brussel for not cooperating with his plans, instead of just accepting his unsoundly and logically incorrect policy proposal he keeps on blaming on those around him.

While talking about his in-group biases then he is a candidate of diverse personality traits but while addressing this particular characteristic his in-group biases seem considerably low. Despite that, he belongs from a business and Journalistic background his policies do not reflect any favor to these groups. Moreover, his record of accomplishment as office bearer also shows a man who is objective in his approach while studying scenario, someone who does not side with some group for the sided with it in the first place. Boris was one of the supporters of Iraq War in 2003, he relentlessly advocated against the human right violations by Saddam Hussein but on his visit to Iraq and Busra after two years of war, he genuinely noted that “eighty percent Iraqis thought the war was a bad option and thirty percent want Saddam back.” He also went on to write that,

“Was this, my friends, the cause I voted for? Was it for this that we have expended 60 British lives, 1,500 Americans and about 17,000 Iraqi civilians? It seems a pretty poor return so far,”

This depicts his realization of the moment without giving in to bloc he supported in the first place, which in Iraq war’s case was a republican Prime Minister, Tony Blair. Moreover, although Boris is a critic of BDS and boycott programs of any such nature towards Israel yet during his visit to Palestine, particularly in Haifa and Nablus, he observed that,

“As I looked at the Palestinians queuing to get into their own town, waiting to be passed by Israeli troops through the urine-soaked turnstiles, I had an inkling of the frustrations that might produce a cult of suicidal martyrdom . . . It is all about a sense of powerlessness, and rage, and hatred, and a sense of injustice”

His such approaches are an evident example of how Boris is not biassed towards any specific group while overlooking scenarios under inquiry.

When it comes to quantifying self-confidence, Boris falls in the category of leaders who have remarkably high self-confidence. His approach towards Leave campaign back in 2016 and towards the BREXIT deal in 2019 is precise as he said, “He knows exactly what he is doing.” His assurance towards his abilities and credence towards himself depicts a high level of self-confidence in his characteristic makeup. Furthermore, in addressing to 72^nd United Nations General Assembly session recently, he went on to make statements like,

“I reject this anti-scientific optimism (of science skeptics)”

And

“I am optimistic about the ability of new technology”

Such statements and particular use of the personal pronoun, in order to highlight his own opinion over everything else, is also an advocate of high self-confidence in Prime Minister Johnson.

Moreover, if we study about his task orientation then he is one of those leaders around the world whose task orientation can even be calculated amply by studying the decisions he has taken prior to coming to the office. PM Boris Johnson worked actively on Leave.EU campaign back in 2016, despite that he joined the campaign in almost the final day when referendum seemed just around the corner; yet he was able to play a significant role in the campaign. He was adamant about leaving the European Union and laid out the road map for how to convert this plan into a reality.

In addition to that, his remarks about shutting down of parliament and placing British democracy on standby, just because he could force through an exit deal smoothly also illustrate his commitment to a task. Such an action would have sound intellectually inept to anyone other than him, as the stakes involved in doing such precarious action for an absolutely crucial deal were sky-high. Yet he let go of consequences and put his attention entirely to the task assigned. Additionally, in an interview with Andrew Neil upon Brexit, when asked about article 24, paragraph 5C of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade which actually stated that any interim agreement must include a plan and a schedule for the formation of a full free trade area within a reasonable length of time. On this Boris replied that “he doesn’t know about this part for he only confides to GATT article 24, 5B” that was to agree to a standstill rule that allows a new temporary free trade area to be made between two countries, and which was considered to be enough for fulfilling his purpose. Boris Johnson’s unflinching focus upon relative things depicts his high task orientation.

The above-mentioned traits paint a man who is yet to be investigated in-depth, in sense of personality assessment, considering the fact that six months is a very short and vague time period to determine the personality of a leader truly. However, the highs and lows of his personality resemble those of most populist leaders around the world.

The writer is a student at National Defence University, Islamabad