When Boris Johnson became prime minister, the conventional wisdom was that he was a populist and would therefore act like one. Johnson was seen as a British equivalent of Donald Trump – and all the other figures, movements and parties around the world that have been identified as “populist”.
However, the concept of populism always obscured as much as it illuminated – particularly when it comes to Brexit and Boris Johnson. In terms of the UK’s wider foreign policy – as opposed to its approach to withdrawing from, and negotiating a new relationship with, the European Union itself – it does not help us understand what, if anything, made Johnson’s approach different from his predecessors as prime minister or what, if anything, might remain of his approach after he leaves office.
