LONON, ENGLAND - JULY 10: Boris Johnson, a leadership candidate for Britain's Conservative Party ... [+]
Boris Johnson left as a prime minister in September 2022, after the accumulation of multiple scandals and alleged misconducts from the management of the COVID-19 pandemic (and the “partygate” scandals: the organization of parties at Number 10 when the rest of the country was under lockdown) to the refurbishment of Downing street by private donors. Multiple problems accumulated, and the situation culminated in a mass resignation in his government that led to his resignation in July.
Yet, despite the country and conservatives having ousted him just a few weeks ago, Boris Johnson is now the leading contender to come back and get elected Prime Minister again, in close competition with Rishi Sunak. How is it possible to recover from a downfall at such a pace? Have the negative memories of his failing already faded away? In which way do the current conditions favor a comeback?
The comebacks of failed corporate and political leaders are not that uncommon. For example, Jack Dorsey returned to Twitter, and Steve Jobs saved Apple after being cast away. French historic hero Charles de Gaulle resigned in 1946, hoping to be called back, which only happened in 1958 at the height of another crisis. So what get us to bring back those fallen leaders to power?
The savior strategy
In situations of uncertainty, when the boat is rocking, followers tend to look towards those that have led them through the previous storms. And those saviors do not necessarily need to have done so successfully: good enough is often sufficient. In this case, BoJo got the UK through the pandemic and the early stages of the Ukraine conflict and its implications. The record is not particularly flattering, but what is remembered is that we collectively made it through.
The dropping currency, rising interest rates and cost of living has raised people's anxiety to the maximum. What best to reassure and dispel fears than someone who is known, established, and has led in the past? What puts people at rest is not necessarily what solves their most pressing issues. Boris Johnson has been a well-identifiable figure in British Politics for the last 20 years, particularly because of his inimitable style and his appetite for controversies (I dedicate a significant part of my 2020 book to how his corrosive positions brought him support).
After a while, we naturally tend to forget the failures, and from a more distant perspective, when looking at the past, we tend to see a much smoother path than when walking it.
In a crisis, the leader's flaws are immediately apparent. Still, the shortcomings of past leaders may fade away from our memories quicker than we think, particularly when our bandwidth is monopolized by geopolitical, economic and environmental chaos.
Nostalgia as a form of cognitive bias
Leaders that have stayed in power a certain time benefit from being perceived as naturally attached to their role in the eyes of the mass. Nostalgia provides them with what organization theorists call "cognitive legitimacy" – they appear inherently and spontaneously legitimate for the top job, which might well be at odd with their actual potential for performance.
Whether Boris Johnson will be back as a Prime Minister in a couple of weeks, the fact he would even be considered a top contender after a few weeks after his fall from grace is gobsmacking for many outsiders. Yet, he is teaching us a lesson on how one can how the wave of nostalgia, take advantage of people's short memory span and reshape one's own image as an unexpected savior.
