ANALYSIS: If Boris Johnson is so popular, why are his handlers hiding him away?
3 min read
The moment Boris Johnson won the Tory leadership contest, so the theory goes, was when the true scale of the Brexit Party's victory in the European elections became apparent.
As the Conservatives limped over the finishing line in fifth place on less than 9% of the vote, panic gripped the party.
Unless Theresa May was replaced by someone who could win back those who had flocked to Nigel Farage's latest outfit, the Tories were toast.
Who better than Boris Johnson? A true Brexiteer who had also been elected twice as mayor of liberal, Labour-voting London. The die was cast. He was a shoo-in.
And so it transpired, with the former Foreign Secretary quickly being established as favourite to take over in Number 10, a position he never once looked like relinquishing.
Since his election a week ago, everything has pretty much gone to plan, right down to the "Boris bounce" in the opinion polls. He even posed for selfies with voters in Birmingham, a duty which his predecessor was never called upon to perform.
But this week, things have been a little more sticky, and cast doubt on the suggestion that Johnson is the Heineken Conservative who can reach the parts of the country that others Tories cannot.
On Monday, there was the extraordinary spectacle of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom having to leave Bute House, Nicola Sturgeon's official residence, by the back door to avoid the baying mob who had jeered him on the way in.
Earlier, he had performed his first official engagement in Scotland as PM behind the razor wire of the heavily-fortified Faslane nuclear base on the Clyde.
In Wales the following day, Johnson was kept well away from ordinary people and most of the media. Tentative plans to do a walkabout in Brecon and Radnorshire ahead of Thursday's by-election were also ditched in favour of a behind-closed-doors meeting with the Tory candidate Chris Davies.
And on Wednesday, when he visited Northern Ireland for talks aimed at trying to restore power-sharing at Stormont, we were treated to the extraordinary spectacle of the Prime Minister agreeing to take just one, pooled, question from Sky News and completely ignoring every other journalist.
Asked why this uniquely popular Tory leader was being hidden away by his handlers, a Number 10 source said: "The focus the was talking to the politicians about the challenges of getting power sharing back. It wasn’t a media trip."
A cynic may think, however, that Downing Street were actually terrified at the prospect of what could come out of the PM's mouth if asked too many tricky questions on the situation in the province.
A YouGov poll published by The Times on Wednesday gave the Conservatives a 10-point lead, and put Johnson miles ahead of Jeremy Corbyn on who would make the best Prime Minister.
Maybe someone should tell his press team not to be so afraid, have the courage of their convictions and let Boris be Boris.
