David, your second paragraph sums up a really complex situation in a few words, thank you.
It's fairly easy to understand how right-wing populists raise the anger of the people. They do it with fear, born largely of their own mismanagement. Fear of the pandemic, of economic disruption, of war, of climate change - and maybe most of all, fear of the "return of the state" that's more-or-less required by all that. But you put your finger on something else, which is that these populist (and yet usually upper class) politicians have to go on *pretending* to believe in their old conservative lines about lowering taxes and shrinking government. Where will the pretence lead them? Right now BoJo is trying to save his political ass by exploiting the fear of war, and more, the nationalist pride of militarism - which would be the logical supplement to the old conservative lines. In fact he's pretty much openly claiming a military role for post-Brexit "Global Britain."
How do you see this latest development? Is it going to work? Could warmongering nationalism be the new rhetorical resource of the right, beyond Johnson? Or is this just his last desperate gambit on the way out?
From my viewpoint it is sickening to see this kind of political theater played in the face of genuinely dangerous situations.
best, Brian