The morning after Britain voted to leave the E.U., chief Brexiteer Boris Johnson arrived at Vote Leave HQ, “punching the air like Maradona,” and then swiftly disappeared. Perhaps he was locked in a dark room somewhere, pallid with shock. Maybe he was conscientiously laboring over the mathematical technicalities of his pledge to give the NHS an extra £350 million a week post-Brexit. Or, alternatively, he was drawing up a comprehensive campaign to back his inevitable bid to be prime minister, one that was both reassuring and somber, championing unity in the face of division. Actually, he was off playing cricket.

Now, weeks into May’s snap general election, the same eerie silence has descended over Johnson’s camp. There have been no photographs of him pounding the Islington pavements on his morning run. His Twitter feed has been restrained, and distinctly election-empty. No small children have been rugby-tackled, and no prize-winning limericks have been penned about Turkey's President Erdoğan having sex with a goat. All over London, zip-wires remain emphatically unhung with the dangling form of BoJo. Where is he?

According to the Times, Johnson has been tactically sidelined in the build-up to the election. The Tory strategy to win over wavering Labour voters might be hindered by the sight of Johnson, ambling through the industrial Northern heartlands, expounding on his need for a new £100 million Royal Yacht Britannia, which he sincerely believes would attract “overwhelming support.” Indeed, an unnamed minister told the paper that Johnson should be sent on “lots of important meetings in various foreign capitals” in the run-up to the vote. But, apparently, another source disagreed. “The idea that Boris isn’t going to be prominent is about as credible as Jeremy Corbyn’s position on Trident.” So, with Theresa May refusing to participate in television debates prior to the election, perhaps this could be Boris’s time to shine again. A natural performer, he would likely bemuse Corbyn and aggravate Liberal leader Tim Farron, joyfully employing his triad of “waffle, charm and delay”—a characterization coined (scathingly) by Lord Hestletine.

May bumps briefly back to shore

Theresa May might be gracefully balanced atop the smooth snap election wave but, the fact remains, the shore is still rocky. Today, she will meet with Jean-Claude Juncker and the E.U.’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, who are swinging into Downing Street for a “flying visit.” It comes ahead of a summit this weekend at which European leaders will formally adopt negotiating guidelines, whose priorities are markedly different to May's.