《鲍里斯•约翰逊：赌徒》读后感
由调查记者鲍尔撰写的这本书虽然从未忽视英国首相的缺陷，但始终用一种开脱的语气。这种同情态度令人错愕。
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全文共973个词，by Robert Shrimsley
Boris Johnson is a perpetual paradox for admirers and opponents alike: a loner who cannot bear to be by himself; a man of genuine intellect who still prefers to wing it; a figure of ferocious ambition and great laziness; someone desperate to lead but unwilling to manage and mindless of consequences; the liberal Brexiter; the low-tax, big-state interventionist; and a man determined to be marked in posterity but reluctant to put in the hard yards to ensure that he is remembered kindly.
鲍里斯•约翰逊(Boris Johnson)对他的崇拜者和反对者来说都是一个永恒的悖论：一个不能忍受独处的孤独者；一个真正才智超群的人，却仍喜欢即兴发挥；一个集野心勃勃和极度懒惰于一身的人；一个渴望当领导、但又不愿管理且不考虑后果的人；一个自由派的退欧者；一个既主张低税收又支持国家干预的人；一个决心留名后世、但不愿勤恳做事以确保在史册上留下英名的人。
The quest to find the last Russian doll inside the British prime minister has now been joined by the investigative journalist Tom Bower. The news that Bower, a noted literary hitman — previous targets have included Robert Maxwell, Richard Branson and Jeremy Corbyn — had turned his sights on Johnson will have left the prime minister’s enemies licking their lips. But those looking for a character assassination are going to be disappointed.
如今，调查记者汤姆•鲍尔(Tom Bower)也加入了找到英国首相内心最后一个俄罗斯套娃的行动。著名文学“杀手”鲍尔瞄准约翰逊的消息，曾令首相的政敌感到急不可待。鲍尔之前的目标包括罗伯特•马克斯韦尔(Robert Maxwell)、理查德•布兰森(Richard Branson)和杰里米•科尔宾(Jeremy Corbyn)。但那些想要看到约翰逊的品格受到批判的人，恐怕要失望了。
This is more an emotional than political biography. While Johnson’s flaws are never ignored, they are invariably described with mitigation in this surprisingly sympathetic work. The generosity appears to spring from what Bower regards as the book’s big reveal, namely the prime minister’s miserable childhood in a broken home with a neglectful, solipsistic and adulterous father who assaulted Johnson’s mother. Stanley Johnson emerges as the true villain of this story, though few will fail to note that his son has inherited some (though mercifully not all) of his less loveable traits.
《鲍里斯•约翰逊：赌徒》(Boris Johnson: The Gambler)与其说是一部政治传记，不如说是一部情感传记。本书虽然从未忽视约翰逊的缺陷，但出人意料地充满同情，总是用一种开脱的语气来评述这些缺陷。这种慷慨似乎源于本书揭露了鲍尔所认为的重大发现：约翰逊在一个破碎的家庭中度过不幸福的童年，他的父亲不关心家人，只顾自己，而且花心，曾经殴打他的母亲。斯坦利•约翰逊(Stanley Johnson)成了这个故事的真正反派角色，尽管多数人都会注意到，他的儿子从他那里继承了一些不那么可爱的性格特征——幸好不是全部。
The emotional neglect combined with academic brilliance and an obvious admiration for his father’s charisma and refusal to be bound down, has, Bower suggests, given us a little boy who never quite grew up — a damaged man kicking against all the restraints of life: rules, marital vows, honesty; a man whose need to be loved in the moment explains almost all his moral flaws.
鲍尔提出，情感上的忽视、学业优异、以及明显钦佩父亲的魄力和拒绝束缚态度，给我们带来了一个从未真正长大的小男孩——一个受到了伤害的、反抗着生活中所有约束——规则、婚姻誓言和诚信——的男人；他对被爱的需要，可以解释他几乎所有的道德缺陷。
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But while Johnson’s emotional turmoil may explain his many infidelities, it will not do in explaining his other deficiencies. While not an authorised biography, it patently has not been obstructed. The author has clearly benefited from substantial access to relatives, ex-partners and allies.
但是，尽管约翰逊的情感动荡可以解释他的许多不忠行为，但并不能解释他的其他缺点。虽然这本传记没有得到授权，但它明显没有受到阻挠。作者显然受益于畅通无阻地接触约翰逊的亲戚、前妻和盟友。
Tellingly, Bower refers to him throughout as “Boris” — a decision perhaps explained by the curiously opaque declaration at the end of the book that Johnson is “not a stranger in my home”. Apparently in the spirit of openness, the author explains that his wife Veronica Wadley, former editor of the London Evening Standard, has known Johnson for more than 30 years — though he describes their relationship as “one of colleagues not friends”. This seems an understatement: Wadley served for four years as a senior adviser to Johnson when he was London mayor and he this year elevated her to the House of Lords.
说明问题的是，鲍尔在书中始终称约翰逊为“鲍里斯”；本书结尾部分奇怪而晦涩的声明（约翰逊“在我家不是陌生人”）或许可以解释这一点。作者以表面上开诚布公的态度解释道，他的妻子、《伦敦标准晚报》(London Evening Standard)前总编辑韦罗妮卡•沃德利(Veronica Wadley)与约翰逊相识已有逾30年——尽管鲍尔将他们之间的关系形容为“同事关系，而并非朋友关系”。这似乎是一种不到位的说法：在约翰逊担任伦敦市长期间，沃德利曾为其担任4年的高级顾问，今年约翰逊提名她进入上议院(House of Lords)。
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Johnson’s time at the Foreign Office, widely considered an embarrassment, is blamed less on the man than on officials led by the “unctuous” Simon McDonald, who failed to protect him. That some delighted in his mistakes, is unarguable, but this analysis goes beyond the benefit of the doubt. Johnson’s damaging misstatements on Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian woman detained by Tehran, are for Bower only a “supposed gaffe”.
外界普遍认为，约翰逊在英国外交部(Foreign Office)任职的表现乏善可陈。但本书在更大程度上将其归咎于公务员们——尤其是被指未能保护约翰逊的“油滑的”西蒙•麦克唐纳（Simon McDonald，时任英国外交部常务次官——译者注）——而不是约翰逊本人。有些人因约翰逊犯错误而感到高兴，这是没有疑问的，但这一分析没有遵守排除合理怀疑的原则。约翰逊在被德黑兰拘留的英籍伊朗女子纳扎宁•扎加里-拉特克里夫(Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe)问题上的破坏性失实陈述，在鲍尔笔下只是“所谓的失言”。
Governmental failures that cannot be blamed on officials are often down to the weak ministers rather than the man who appointed them. Political opponents are derided in a series of low swipes, which Bower rarely bothers to justify. Amber Rudd is a “perfidious lightweight”. Brenda Hale, president of the Supreme Court, which ruled Johnson’s prorogation of parliament to be unlawful, is — horror — “a feminist campaigner”, and had “rarely concealed her contempt” for Johnson (though how this explains the other 10 judges in a unanimous 11-0 verdict is unclear).
无法怪罪公务员的政府失误，往往被归咎于能力较弱的部长级官员，而不是任命他们的首相。政治对手受到一连串粗俗抨击的嘲讽，但鲍尔很少费心去证明这些嘲讽的合理性。安伯•拉德(Amber Rudd)是一个“不可信任且无足轻重的人物”。曾裁定约翰逊让议会休会不合法的英国最高法院(Supreme Court)院长布伦达•黑尔(Brenda Hale)是一位“女权主义活动家”，“很少掩饰她对约翰逊的蔑视”（尽管不清楚另外10名法官以11票赞成、0票反对作出一致判决该如何解释）。
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The author looks to have absorbed the opinions of Johnson’s closest allies rather than simply reporting them. Foreign Office staff are dismissed for their “timidity, unimpressive intellect and limited education”. Education officials were “lazy and incompetent”. It is, it seems, everyone else’s job to make up for the PM’s unwillingness to dirty his hands with detail.
作者似乎消化吸收了约翰逊最亲密盟友的观点，而不是简单地介绍这些观念。英国外交部的工作人员被说得一文不值，因为他们“胆怯，才智平庸，教育程度有限”。教育部官员“又懒又无能”。彷佛其他人的职责都是弥补首相不愿为细节操心的性格。
Many criticisms of officialdom are at least arguable, but the combined effect of all the digs is to unbalance what would otherwise be seen as an attempt to present a fair portrayal. Perhaps the most unedifying moment is when Bower takes potshots at Sonia Purnell, Johnson’s previous and less forgiving biographer.
对官僚体系的许多批评至少是可以争辩的，但所有这些挖苦之语的综合效应，使得原本被视为公平描述的努力失去平衡。也许最不好的就是鲍尔抨击约翰逊之前的传记作者、比他更不客气的索尼娅•珀内尔(Sonia Purnell)。
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For all this, Bower does not ignore his subject’s political weaknesses, recounting how often Johnson arrives in a job he has sought with no plan for what he wishes to do and no instinct to find out how the structure works. Bower is merciless on Johnson’s failures to address the shortcomings of the Metropolitan Police and on his over-reliance on others.
尽管如此，鲍尔没有忽视约翰逊在政治上的不足之处。他在书中提到，约翰逊经常在开始一项工作时，对自己想要做什么毫无计划，也没有了解体制如何运作的意识。鲍尔不留情面地指出，约翰逊未能解决伦敦警察厅(Metropolitan Police)的问题，并且对他人过度依赖。
The section on the run-up to Brexit is also convincing. Opponents have been quick to accuse Johnson of opportunism in backing Leave but Bower argues persuasively that while it served his political ends, he also believed it. Yet the book also shows just how ideologically light Johnson travels. Whether this is pragmatism or roguishness rather depends on your starting point.
关于英国退欧公投拉票阶段的章节也很有说服力。反对者很快指责约翰逊支持退欧是一种机会主义行为，但鲍尔有说服力地指出，尽管退欧对约翰逊的政治目的有用，但他本人确实相信退欧的好处。然而，本书也展示出约翰逊在意识形态上是多么无所谓。至于这是务实还是流氓态度，取决于你的出发点。
The book will change few minds. Brexit has led most people to a firm position on Johnson, but this is an attempt to offer a nuanced account — supportive but critical — of a man Bower calls an “intelligent patriot”. The voters, he concludes, “still wait to see if he is a leader”.
本书不会改变多少人的想法，英国退欧已经使得大多数人对约翰逊形成了明确看法，但本书试图对被鲍尔称为“聪明爱国者”的约翰逊进行细腻的描述——支持，但带有批评。他总结称，选民“仍在等待，看他是否能成为一位领袖”。
The overwhelming impression is of a man Bower likes and pities. The arc of this story is of a brilliant child trapped inside a prime minister, a victim of an atrocious father still searching for approval. But if Johnson does not soon become the leader that Bower clearly believes he can be, then Stanley’s victims will not be limited to his family.
读者得到的总体印象是鲍尔喜欢而同情这个人。这个故事的弧线是一个被困在首相外壳里的聪明孩子，一个粗暴父亲的受害者，仍在寻求认可。但如果约翰逊不能很快成为鲍尔显然认为他能够成为的那种领袖，那么斯坦利的受害者将不仅仅限于他的家人。
Boris Johnson: The Gambler, by Tom Bower, WH Allen, RRP£20, 592 pages
《鲍里斯•约翰逊：赌徒》(Boris Johnson: The Gambler)，汤姆•鲍尔著，WH Allen出版，建议零售价20美元，共592页
Robert Shrimsley is the FT’s chief UK political commentator
罗伯特•施里姆斯利是英国《金融时报》首席英国政治评论员