Paul Johnson: George Bush Is the Next Thatcher

Paul Johnson: George Bush Is the Next Thatcher

Jeremy Bradshaw
Wednesday, June 30, 2004

Paul Johnson is a leading writer, author and historian in Britain. He was once a radical left-wing journalist in Britain. He converted to the Right under Margaret Thatcher and became the leading intellectual to support the conservative cause in Britain in his bestselling books and columns. A staunch supporter of the United States, he tells NewsMax that George W Bush is America’s New Thatcher and warns of growing anti-Americanism in Europe.

London – “Hillary Clinton - she’s awful!” “ Prince Charles – he’ll be a terrible King!” “ Bush Senior – a very weak President!” “ Margaret Thatcher – a great friend.” “Tony Blair – a man of integrity.”

And so it is.

Paul Johnson, prolific author, writer and leading intellectual has a view on most of the great and the good.

But then he’s met most of the giants of the last fifty years, befriended many and passed judgment on all – in either articles or one of his many books.

Recently NewsMax.com visited with the distinguished journalist to get his views on the world in turmoil.

Mr. Johnson has some unique perspectives. He was, in the 1960s and early 1970s, a radical left-wing card-carrying member of the British Labor Party at a time when Labor advocated state ownership of industry, mass redistribution of wealth and punitive tax levels.

As Britain’s economy faltered, Johnson was seduced by Margaret Thatcher’s message of less government and less taxation.

Emotionally and mentally, he was won over to the Right and became among her closest advisers to Margaret Thatcher.

“In the 1970s Britain was on its knees. The left had no answers. I became disgusted by the over-powerful trade unions which were destroying Britain,” he recalls.

Thatcher: Her Father’s Daughter

Thatcher became the leader of the opposition Conservative Party in 1975.

“I was instantly drawn to her. I’d known Margaret at Oxford. She was not a party person. She was an individual who made up her own mind. People would say that she was much influenced by Karl Popper or Frederick Hayek.

“But it was her father, Alderman Roberts – who was active in local politics in Grantham, Lincolnshire – who was the biggest influence on her.

“He taught her to follow a mix of Adam Smith and the Ten Commandments. The result was that Thatcher followed three guiding principles: truthfulness, honesty and never borrowing money.”

It was a philosophy that Johnson also shared. “My friend Jimmy Goldsmith, the billionaire financier never agreed with us. He once said ‘How do you think I made my billions? Using other people’s money, of course’ ” chuckles Johnson.

Tony Blair: Man of Integrity But Doesn’t Read Books

Personalities are important to Johnson. He left the Conservative Party when John Major succeeded Mrs. Thatcher as prime minister in 1990. “I couldn’t bear the man.”

With Tony Blair, who bounced in to Johnson’s life in 1994, it was different.

“He arrived one morning on my doorstep to introduce himself - just after he became leader. I liked him very much. He is a nice fella. He is a man of integrity,” insists Johnson.

“However, he’s not a well educated person – he never reads books. Although Blair did tell me he once read a book – it was on the slave trade.”

“To Hell with the Europeans – Don’t Trust the French”

Blair’s winning personality and readiness to court Johnson paid off.

As a leading force in British journalism, with major columns in both the tabloid and more weighty broadsheet press, Johnson’s views mattered and the Man who wanted to be Prime Minister knew this.

For Johnson, it was all important that Blair continued Thatcher’s close relationship with the U.S.
“I told Tony Blair that when he becomes Prime Minister he must always stick close to the Americans – they are our allies. They are more than that, they are like family. We’re not foreign countries. I said Hell to the Europeans – you can never trust them, especially the French.”

And Blair listened and followed Johnson’s advice. Blair enjoys Johnson’s continued support.
He has kept the Thatcher legacy intact although his foreign policy successes have not been matched by domestic successes, perhaps because “Blair is not really interested in home affairs.”

Johnson’s fascination with the United States has been a dominant theme of his life.

He once said, “I have fallen in love with America and its history. I have visited America several times a year for four decades and studied every aspect of its continental story.

Johnson’s book “A History of the American People” is a reflection of his enduring enthusiasm for the country. But again and again it is the personalities that seem to fascinate the writer. Johnson, like Churchill, believes in the great man (or woman) of history.

“’Reagan’s your man,’ I told Margaret Thatcher”

In 1980 Paul Johnson served as a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington and studied the rise of Ronald Reagan to the presidency.

“When Reagan won the Republican nomination I wrote to Mrs. Thatcher and said, ‘You must make your number with Reagan as he will be president and in my opinion you will find like yourself you share the same three or four key principles.’

“At first the Iron Lady showed reluctance. As she said, ‘That’s not my information.’ ‘I told her to dismiss as Georgetown gossip the information fed to her by our diplomats and to get on with meeting Reagan.’

“Of course the rest is history. The moment the two met they hit it off. The key was not just their views,” says Johnson. “Mrs. Thatcher was remarkably feminine despite all this talk of her being the Iron Lady. She loves handsome men. Reagan was just her type. She also loved Reagan’s one-liners.”

Bush Like Thatcher

Johnson’s admiration for Reagan also extends to George W Bush.

“Bush Junior is far more intelligent than his image or the press suggest. And he is 100 per cent trustworthy. He is also a much stronger man than Bush senior,” says Johnson.

“President Bush has far more in common with Thatcher than his father. It is nonsense to say Bush is in the pocket of the neo-conservatives. I know the so-called neo-cons and it is all a myth. They can’t agree on anything, let alone organize themselves for a predetermined program. He’s got the steel and backbone of his mother, Barbara Bush, and not his weak and feeble father.”

Iraqi War Was Necessary

Bush’s attack on Iraq deserves full support, says Johnson.

“Saddam Hussein was clearly an evil man. The war was necessary and a good thing. It was as plain as a nose on your face that Saddam had to go.

“If Thatcher had still been in power when the first Gulf War took place then I am certain she would have made sure the Americans liberated not just Kuwait but also had gone onto Baghdad and removed Saddam.

“Instead, Bush senior was too weak and in the hands of his generals so he did not want to go in to Iraq. And so it was left to George W. to sort out.”

The result? “Bush Junior has made the U.S. a far safer country – as witnessed by al-Qaida’s failure to do anything since 9/11.”

Ironically al-Qaida may have helped Bush.

“Before 9/11 President Bush had no idea what he hoped to achieve with his presidency After the terrorist outbreak al-Qaida gave Bush a theme and a purpose: to make the U.S. a safer place and to rid the world of terrorism. And this will help Bush win a second term.”

Johnson clearly has little time for the Democrats. Perhaps it is the unattractive personalities involved . He doesn’t rate Kerry or his chances of winning the presidency.

“He has a one in a million chance of success,” he says.

The Clintons are not fully backing Kerry, he adds. After all, they want a Hillary 2008 campaign. “Let’s not forget: The Clintons’ marriage is a dynastic marriage of ambitious swine.”

Prince Charles: A Bad King

As Johnson’s looks to the future he sees storm clouds gathering in two areas. The historian in him worries about the future of the monarchy.

“He will make a bad king – if he becomes one. Our only hope is that the Queen will live on in to her late eighties so Charles may never reign or only for a short time. Like Edward VII, the wayward heir of Queen Victoria, he may ascend to the throne in his sixties and experience a belated maturity. But one thing of which I am certain: he will never marry that Camilla.”

Anti-Americanism Is Racism

Johnson’s other concern is the growing tide anti-Americanism sweeping the globe.

“It’s borne of jealousy and power envy. It is a form of racism. The U.S. is a microcosm of the world’s races, Hatred of the Americans is a form of self-hatred. The solution to this anti-Americanism? I say, carry on doing what is right!”