We are storytellers.
We once sat around a fire and told of epic victories and the leader's strength (or ability to learn from a spider).
All politicians understand that controlling the narrative affects the outcome. Such people know we are hard-wired to subsume a good story. So they highlight the truths that back the outcome they desire.
Taking it one step further, others, e.g., Putin, Johnson and Trump, to name three, will lie to change the story to their advantage. Challenges to the lies must then be quashed to maintain the narrative. Putin has closed down access to the internet. Trump used a Twitter fest to drown out the truth and groupthink to extend the myth. Boris ignores age-old democratic rules. He refuses to accept the truth or correct lies. He relies on the bias in the press towards his party, creating his own groupthink. They will quote his lies as if they are the truth.
Putin's story was that it was a rescue mission, that they would be greeted by the general population and garlanded with flowers. In the end, you cannot deny the truth. The soldier's going into Ukraine have faced that moment of truth. It is then down to their conscience; which is why we end up having war crimes trials.
One day those who have swallowed Johnson's fake narrative will have something put before them which breaks the story completely for them. It will then be down to their conscience. We have already seen this to some extent about Brexit but the believers have been able to let that wash over them. Let's hope we still have our democracy by the time the scales fall from the eyes of those taken in by Johnson.
In all three cases, the intent is to change the narrative sufficiently to destroy democracy and gain power.
It's not like we haven't seen it before.