Booing the prime minister is what a free country does

Disrespect for leaders may be boisterous, crude and unfair, but it is the essence of democracy, writes John Rentoul

Johnson is unpopular at the moment (Reuters)

Too much has possibly been read into what the BBC described as Boris Johnson’s “mixed” reception by the crowds outside St Paul’s Cathedral on Friday. Some of the instant commentary took it as confirmation that the prime minister was finished and that his MPs would be getting rid of him on Monday.

I thought it merely confirmed two things we already knew. One is that Johnson is unpopular at the moment. The opinion polls have been telling us that since Christmas. The other is that we live in a free country, where people, luckily, are able to express their opinions, often rudely, in public.

There weren’t that many people at the front of the cathedral as Boris and Carrie got out of the car and went up the steps, but the boos and whistles were certainly louder than the cheers.

Disrespect towards our leaders is hardly new. The Duke of Wellington had the windows of his house smashed in between his two stints as prime minister, during the agitation over reform bills. Queen Victoria was booed by East Enders when she opened the People’s Palace in Mile End (“a horrid noise,” she said).

People threw eggs at Harold Wilson, who said it was only under a Labour government that people could afford to waste eggs. Tony Blair was slow handclapped by the Women’s Institute, and shouted at by TV studio audiences. David Cameron was even booed by the spectators at Wimbledon in 2016. It didn’t make the headlines as much as Johnson’s embarrassment, probably because Cameron had already announced his resignation on the day after the EU referendum, so there wasn’t any of the attendant speculation about his future.

Democracy is often boisterous, crude and unfair, and Johnson knows that better than most, having ridden the anti-establishment wave to win the Brexit referendum and the premiership.

Personally, I was delighted with the noisy game of thumbs up and thumbs down outside St Paul’s because Tony Blair, arriving with Cherie, was greeted with cheers (although some of that noise might have been just the sergeant-major shouting orders to the honour guard). Which goes to show that popularity comes and goes. If Johnson comes back in 15 years’ time, he might be cheered too.

Yours,

John Rentoul

Chief political commentator