Top playwright blames Boris Johnson and Donald Trump for ‘madness’ in modern politics

Britain’stop political playwright James Graham has accused Boris Johnson and Donald Trump of taking politics to “a new level of madness”.

Graham, who wrote the hit TV drama about Brexit, The Uncivil War, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, is renowned for his even-handed approach and for avoiding revealing his own political stance.

But he has lambasted Johnson and Trump in a hard-hitting interview in which he denounces “populist” leaders.

Tossing aside his usual impartiality, Graham declared: “F*** it! I DO want to disrespect Johnson.”

The former Conservative prime minister had wasted a golden chance to set the UK on a new path, he said. Britain was crying out for new leadership – and it could come in the form of the imminent general election.

He praised Joe Biden for attempting to reverse the culture of populism” in the US while lamenting that Trump’s “narrative has taken root and it is impossible to uproot it”.

Mr Johnson wasted a golden chance to set the UK on a new path, says Graham

Britain had failed to “reset itself”, as it had in 1945 and 1979, Graham told the Desperately Seeking Wisdom podcast hosted by David Cameron’s former spin doctor Craig Oliver.

“Something has gone wrong in the last 10 to 15 years. It goes back to the (financial) crash in 2008. It felt like a moment when we were going to begin a new story… It just didn’t happen.

“It didn’t happen because, no disrespect to Boris Johnson… actually, f*** it! I DO want to disrespect Boris Johnson. He fumbled the ball. We have lost that moment and may never get it back.

“We are going down into levels of madness because we cannot reset the story, with characters like Trump.

“We need new characters with new stories to tell, that might be in the form of a general