Politics and poker have a lot in common. The language for a start: showing one’s cards; folding under pressure and, of course, _bluffing_. Of these bluff is crucial. If you don’t have a

strong hand don’t bluff; don’t bluff if you’re not prepared to see it through; and don’t bluff against several players at once. Boris Johnson is breaking every poker rule in the book. He’s

taking on Andy Burnham, king of the north metro-mayors; Michel Barnier, the smooth EU Brexit negotiator. And if that were not enough, he is now trying to face down Marcus Rashford, fast

heading for the title of Britain’s youngest national treasure. Like his hero Winston Churchill, a consummate politician but an amateur at poker, the Prime Minister isn’t winning. In 1946,

poker. Little did he know that Truman, like many US presidents before and since, was a gifted card shark. Churchill lost heavily. In poker, as in politics, you must weigh risk and reward,

think several steps ahead and read your opponent. It also pays to be a good bluffer. Johnson’s my-way-or-the-highway negotiating style, no doubt egged on by his chief advisor, is anything

but. His style is more “shout and fold”. This is not lost on his adversaries. Michel Barnier this week noted that Johnson had twice previously called for a deal by a specific date before

folding. “This latest,” said Mr Barnier “was the third unilateral deadline that Mr Johnson has imposed without agreement.” Andy Burnham is standing his ground. He has a strong hand. As does

Marcus Rashford. Judging by the extraordinary upsurge of pop-up “free meals for children” initiatives, he may well have to fold on this one too. Britain is in the middle of a life-changing

pandemic. This is no time to be picking fights you almost certainly can’t win to make a point, burnish your right-wing Tory credentials or please your more primeval backbenchers. Equally it

would be madness to add a no-deal Brexit to the uncertainties created by a pandemic. As Carolyn Fairbairn, the director-general of the CBI, told the _Guardian_ this week: “After four years

of negotiations and so many hurdles crossed, this is no time to give up. A deal is the only outcome that protects Covid-hit livelihoods at a time when every job in every country counts.” The

stand-off with northern mayors, school meals and the need for a decent Brexit deal have one thing in common: the pandemic. Even if Johnson had a strong hand (which he doesn’t) trying to

bluff his adversaries into folding might make sense in normal times. But these are not normal times. This is a time, as Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England during the financial

crisis says, to pull out all the stops and extend as much financial support as possible to as many people as possible and worry about the debt when the fire is out. The pandemic has exposed

deep fault lines in the country. The stand-off with the metro-mayors of the north and with a young man, now successful, but who often went hungry when he was a child is symptomatic of those

fault lines. Covid comes hard on the heels of the 2008 financial crisis. The world missed an opportunity to bring about meaningful change back then. Governments bailed out the banks but did

nothing to create a more level playing field for the rest of us. Boris Johnson needs to stop playing poker, a game to which he is spectacularly ill-suited. He needs to start mapping out a

vision of the future after Covid which would bring the country together, not tear it apart. A MESSAGE FROM THEARTICLE _We are the only publication that’s committed to covering every angle.

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