No idea what Harry Houdini has to do with this. I don't recall him standing for election as Harry Houdini.
As a matter of simple courtesy, don't force people to ask you what you mean (which is what you do when you refer to him as "Alex", exactly as you would if you referred to Houdini as "Erik"); presumably you find it as infuriating as everyone else when people deliberately speak in such a way as to force you to ask them to clarify. It's bad manners just as using needlessly pretentious and obscure vocabulary is.
I mean, yes. If you're an entertainment personality you can have a stage persona and I accept that.
If you're a politician, then I reject your desire to have a stage persona. Politicians pretending to be something they aren't is a massive problem, and treating politics exactly like another form of entertainment is a massive problem with our society and our politics.
So I am doing exactly what your criticize, but I do it proudly, and I actually return the opposite criticism to you.
Another point on Johnson is that he deliberately conflates his personal life with politics when it suits him (pictures of his new born son on the front pages of papers) whilst using the courts to obscure others (his possible fatherhood of another child).
On use of his name it's the man himself who makes the ruthless political decisions and not the stage persona which is is much more 'warm and cuddly'.
Re Harry Houdini specifically: I think it would have been reasonable, yes. Lord Buckethead does it. In fact, I think it would be reasonable to stand as Borat, and people voting for Borat would be voting specifically for Borat, not for Sacha Baron Cohen. If elected, I would expect Sacha Baron Cohen to rule to the best of his ability as if he were Borat.
That's not a stage persona, though. I don't reject that someone can transition genders, and hold political office as their preferred gender.
In the same way, I absolutely don't begrudge a politician using a preferred name if it is their actual preferred name. What I personally won't tolerate is a stage persona. They don't get to "play a character" when they run for office.
> Lord Buckethead does it.
I think this is the best example of a blurred line. I don't mind Lord Buckethead's persona, because I view his activities as political satire despite the fact that he's using the actual election mechanisms. If, however, he stood a 1% chance of winning and actually wanted to govern I would absolutely not accept "Lord Buckethead" as a reasonable candidate. So, as political satire, Lord Buckethead is fine as a stage persona. As a bona fide political candidate, I think it's absolutely wrong.
In any event Happy Xmas!
If you hold something against people named 'alex' then let's hear it.
Prime ministers are a part of a larger story. The practice of aligning with the larger story won't change, people will just work harder to make it happen. I don't want to play the game of guessing who legally changed their birth name to match what the people wanted instead of just running on a pen name and accepting the world as it is.