Can Johnson do a Churchill and win a new Battle of Britain?

KUALA LUMPUR: Boris Johnson’s speech on Tuesday made me recall Winston Churchill’s words at a crucial juncture in British history.

When France was overrun by Nazi Germany, and when Britain was next in Hitler’s sights, the indomitable Churchill gave one of the finest speeches in human history.

“Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour’.”

In June 1940, the Luftwaffe came, unleashing fury and fear into the heart of the Empire, but history shall evermore record that the Battle of Britain was won by the free people of the isle.

Now Johnson is facing a battle equally as monumental; will Britain be torn asunder under (because of) him, or will he pull off a miracle?

Like Churchill before him, he will urge the British people and politicians to rally behind him. Good luck with the latter!!

His speech on Tuesday was rousing, in particular, the chest-thumping conclusion: “And we are once again going to believe in ourselves and what we can do and like some slumbering giant we are going to rise and ping off the guy ropes of self-doubt and negativity.”

Churchill is more than a person, more than an icon. Johnson remains a shadow by comparison.

But both the legend and Johnson have one thing in common. For all their charisma and grit, it is the strength and courage of others that aid them in the struggle across the finishing line.

Churchill wisely acknowledged this, saying on Aug 20, 1940: “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” ‘The few’ being the brave RAF pilots who defied the odds and upended Hitler’s ambition.

Whether flamboyant Johnson will have an opportunity to pronounce a similar masterpiece, who dares say now?

But we in Malaysia should not discount him, nor foolishly call him ‘Britain’s Trump’. Leave that simple-minded approach to Donald and his foes.

After all, if he can deliver Brexit without an economic earthquake, that will be good for the global economy. And Malaysia. One thousand years from now, the world will surely remember this fine moment.