So, Tory fixer and future cabinet hopeful Nick Boles sends Boris Johnson a menacing message from The Godfather after Hizzonor goes off message at the party conference to demand a Lisbon referendum. "Revenge is a dish best eaten cold," Boles texts. In Italian. Should we be surprised?
No, of course not. Boles was doing two things; one, reminding Boris that he's not the party's only polyglot; two, expressing the fascination many politicians have for the mafia and other mobsters. After all they're in similar lines of work: persuading people to do what they don't want to do and getting them to pay for it. In theory the state has a monopoly of violence to enforce its lawful will. But south of Rome and in many other places around the world, this monopoly is contested by organised crime which steals its revenues and its authority.
Hilary Clinton famously used a spoof based on The Sopranos to launch her doomed presidential bid. Countless legislators and their Alastair Campbell enforcers have made colleagues "an offer they couldn't refuse" or warned them they might soon be feeding the fishes. It's so macho, like Michael Portillo's "Who dares, wins" pseudo-SAS speech: safe but fun. In real life, of course, it's anything but fun. Look at Italy, post-Soviet Russia and other places where gangster capitalism thrives. When a crooked politician reneges on a deal with the Mob, he's in trouble. When a straight one crosses them, watch out. Who really killed JFK? Some say the Mob.
Mayor Boris should know this: he was once taped seemingly abetting his villainous Etonian (now there's a secret society) mucker, Darius Guppy, who wanted a reporter frightened. Nick Boles is yet to be elected. He'll learn: beware of Godfather jokes.
