How Boris Johnson could trigger the breakup of the United Kingdom | Martin Kettle

The prime minister may end up doing more for Welsh independence than the nationalist hero Owain Glyndŵr

In a distant echo of a medieval monarch’s royal progress around the realm, Boris Johnson has been journeying on a prime ministerial grand tour around the country to show his new subjects who is boss. Last weekend it was northern England; on Monday, Scotland; Tuesday was Wales day and Wednesday was the turn of Northern Ireland.

These visits contained none of the celebratory pageants that would have been expected in the middle ages. Instead, the new leader was whisked in and then out again. Much of the tour has been controlled. Journalists were mostly kept at a distance. In the streets, boos seem to have been more common than cheers.

It is hard to dispute the widening gulf between current reality and the rhetoric of Johnson’s ‘awesome foursome'

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