A
Psychologist’s Report on the Prime Minister.
The
PM is now in his late 50s, but it seems we are dealing with a
psychological adolescent. That is the period in life when
people are establishing their identity - who are they? It is an
interesting challenge since it involves both the memory of one's own
experiences up to that time and the department store of potential
identities - what one can invent or adopt for oneself. The
mature person makes a happy conjunction of these two. The more
one invents a self that does not take into account what one has been
and indeed what one is in temperament and mental ability will lead to
trouble. I think this is the PM’'s basic problem - he has not
achieved this synthesis, too many skeletons in the cupboard, and
unfortunately for him, too many people know the skeletons.
He
has been blessed with a good brain and with charm. The latter,
whilst this can be an advantage in life, can have the disadvantage
that the person does not get accurate feedback on which to operate.
The self-image can therefore proceed unchecked by appropriate checks
and balances. Such people can believe their own propaganda.
They are usually equipped with defence mechanisms in the form of
cognitive distortions to deal with and dismiss adverse criticism when
it arises. This becomes neutralised and reflection is therefore
not in the repertoire. However, he appears lazy intellectually
and will give up when it requires effort. The problem with
journalism, Boris' profession, is that it rarely requires real
depth. In journalism you can be quite dilettante, picking up
and putting down a subject without having to delve too deeply.
This would have suited the PM has but not been a good training for
his political career. Whilst he was Foreign Secretary and at the
United Nations he seemed to exasperate the civil servants by being
rather superficial and it appeared he was simply going to wing it,
whatever the issue was.
It
is reported that he is lazy. This suggests that he will not
expend effort on strategic thinking, and is more likely to respond to
the dictates of the present perhaps to the extent of being impulsive,
operating on the hoof. Whilst this can give an illusion of
success in the short term, it is likely to store up a host of
hostages to fortune for the future, and in time the incoherence will
become apparent.
The
'good brain' issue needs deconstructing. People can easily be
impressed by people who are articulate or who interlard their
discourse with reference to obscure or specialist knowledge. It
makes them feel inadequate and therefore they dare not ask questions
or be challenging. The individual's image of themselves can be
massaged. However, it can mask the absence of original thought,
the person's 'intelligence' being reliant of repeating other people's
ideas. The PM is not an original thinker and is wearing
borrowed clothes, the ideas and thoughts of others. This is
fine until confronted with a novel situation for which there is no
prior model. This is his present predicament. Modelling
oneself on a war leader with a very tangible enemy is not appropriate
against a pandemic. His desire to be loved/liked means it is
difficult for him to tell people what they do not want to hear,
particular when there are people in denial about the severity of the
situation.
The
PM always wants to be in the frame. Ofen wearing a hi-viz
jacket. I think this is significant and suggests a certain narcissism
that he is the centre of attention. Narcissism
comes with a sense of entitlement, a mind set boosted by such places
as Eton and Oxford. He
does not appear, unless it suits him, a loyal person -his
first duty is to himself. He will not engender loyalty, either.
The Tory party does not like losers and when he begins to be
floundering, they will dump him unceremoniously. He will then
appear a sorry figure.
The
trouble is that we don't see the real Boris. He has a
well-cultivated act, that is effective in achieving certain outcomes
and in avoiding others. The trouble with this is that it all
becomes a game, it's all a jolly romp rather than something to be
taken seriously. It is a fine defence when things go wrong,
though it portrays little awareness of any negative impact upon
others.
[The
author’s name and credentials have been redacted.]