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| Hero: Hans Brinker |
I wonder if our prime minister ever thinks of himself as a possible legendary historical figure. An icon in fact or fiction, If he does, who might be his heroes?
One, surely, must be Winston Churchill, one of Britain’s greatest, who saved us from being overrun by a deadly enemy, just as our prime minister is trying to do today.
This time, though, the enemy has managed to invade and is threatening to overwhelm us.
What about Francis Drake who showed the true English character in 1588 by allegedly calmly finishing a game of bowls on Plymouth Hoe before going to sea to sink the Spanish Armada?
Mr Johnson can at least claim he cycled through the streets of London in the grip of deadly coronavirus.
Perhaps he might hope to be remembered for saving his country from being overwhelmed like Hans Brinker, the little Dutch boy with his finger in the dyke.
Our prime minister would shy away from the thought of the desperate, doomed bravery of Lord Cardigan who led his 600 into the valley of death in the Crimean war.
Self confident as he is, like most leaders through history, he would not compare himself with Napoleon Bonaparte who brought France back from the brink of destruction by epic battles in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Politically, as a committed ‘leveller’ he would never countenance the possibility of being connected in any way as a reverse Robin Hood, depriving the deprived to further enrich the rich.
And, heaven forbid anyone to suggest that he was a Nero, fiddling, playing the lute - a forerunner of the guitar - while Rome burned.
Just some thoughts.
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