Disposable nappies and floods

It seems even the tabloid press are wondering ‘where is Boris (sic)’ in the current flooding crisis. This is a tough call for the yellow press, wondering which is the most important ‘Boris’ story today—the flooding or his divorce settlement announced with his former wife. As ever we can rely on them to get the priorities sorted. One explanation provided by the as usual unnamed No. 10 sources as to why Johnson has failed to show up anywhere near a flood is that he sees himself as a the delegator in chief, chairman of the board, etc., etc. As I have remarked before this is not so much down to liberating his minions, but acting in the interests of his inherent laziness. He doesn’t really want to do the graft. But there sits his Achilles heel, since his Cabinet of Nonentities can’t really do anything without his (or Cummings’) say-so, a la Sajid David. Johnson is thus constructing a barricade of disposable nappies, absorbent idiots charged to remove the shit before it hits his fan (to mix metaphors a little).
 
It’s a little ironic that this flooding is so dominating Johnson’s honeymoon period just as the same subject did when Gordon Brown was newly anointed PM. Then in 2007 Brown was seen to be actively in charge and the afterglow almost lit his election hopes (only to be dashed by the Big Man’s knowledge that it was bit of a risk when he could still have three years to burnish his reputation even more).  Perhaps Johnson’s strategy will work—can there be a more supposedly decisive sight then a PM sacking ministers? It’s very much like reacting to events with new legislation—without then following up with the necessary resources to make the legislation meaningful. Anybody in local government will know what I mean. How much councils must relish their ‘new powers’ when at the same time their budgets are being stripped. Anyway, a few ministerial sackings always gives the commentariat a gift, whilst nothing changes.