Post war general elections

Tin-soldiering Tony wonders whether when the dust has settled on all this we shall see a repeat of the 1945 election where, despite leading the country to success in the war, Winston Churchill was thrown out to be replaced by the 20th century's greatest prime minister, Clement Attlee. Historical parallels are of course very difficult to draw even in hindsight, let alone as one lives through them. Clearly Johnson sees himself as Churchill, cometh the hour cometh the man and all that, but equally clearly an awful lot of us see him as Neville Chamberlain, someone who has left the country unprepared despite all the warning signs being there.

Lloyd George is unhappy at being compared to Boris Johnson

I would suggest that another possible parallel to consider is the 1918 election. In this case the Great War wouldn't represent the pandemic, rather it would represent leaving the EU. The pandemic occurring immediately afterwards would be represented by the pandemic occurring immediately afterwards, if you follow me. So, we have a 'victory' delivered by a charismatic Prime Minister, who has managed to oust his dull predecessor mostly by dint of being more flamboyant and has succeeded to the top job despite being a known liar, womaniser and father of a string of illegitimate children. He wins the subsequent election with a large majority on the basis of 'Britain for the Britons' (one of Lloyd George's actual slogans). Does that sound familiar?

So, how did it play out? Sadly, having won he finds that the great 'victory' has left the country financially prostrate and after a few years, in which not much is achieved domestically and there are disastrous negotiations involving, among others, the French, Germans and Americans, he is deposed by his party which then loses the next election so badly that it never takes office again.

We shall see.