3. Govts have always tried to narrate events in a way that suits them. But it feels, increasingly, as if controlling the narrative is *all* that matters: that narrating Brexit is more important than negotiating it; that announcing new hospitals matters more than building them.

4. The current govt was forged in the 2016 Vote Leave campaign, led by columnists like Johnson and Gove. It span a series of brilliant fictions: "Turkey is joining the EU"; "We hold all the cards"; "German car makers will beat down Merkel& #39;s door"; "easiest trade deal in history".

5. But governing is not an exercise in creative writing. EU negotiators are not characters in a newspaper column, acting as their authors decide. Tariffs and supply chains are not free-floating discourses. Saying "we flung a protective ring around care homes" doesn& #39;t save lives.

6. Treating politics as fiction eats like acid at public trust. If you sign up to controls in the Irish Sea, but deny it in public; or if you leak contradictory stories, tailored to different outlets, people notice. And trust matters - esp. in a pandemic, & esp. in a negotiation.

7. @JasonCowleyNS captured Boris Johnson& #39;s career as a columnist beautifully in a recent article. If we want better public policy, we should think about why this kind of writing is so richly rewarded, & why it increasingly provides an entry into govt. ENDS https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2020/03/boris-johnson-struggles-find-authentic-voice-speak-and-nation">https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/...