The British prime minister attended numerous parties at government headquarters during the lockdown.
(Photo: AP)
Half an hour before Boris Johnson apologized on Tuesday evening for breaking his government’s corona rules in the middle of the strictest lockdown, he informed the British about his recent phone call with US President Joe Biden on the war in Ukraine. The anecdote said a lot about the British Prime Minister’s priorities and his audacity to brush aside bad news.
Johnson is the first British leader ever to be held accountable for breaking a law. And the £50 he paid for a drink at 10 Downing Street on his birthday on June 19, 2020 isn’t the end of the story. Johnson has attended more parties in London’s Government District, so more Scotland Yard fines are likely to follow.
The survivor will probably react to this in the same way as now: Sorry, folks, but there are more important things in the world. Putin’s war, for example, in which the prime minister put himself at the forefront of Western solidarity for Ukraine with early arms deliveries, tough sanctions and a surprise visit to Kyiv.
Johnson does not dispute that breaking the law by a head of government should lead to his resignation even in normal times. That he flouted the rules for all during the pandemic, when the state was exacting enormous sacrifices from its citizens, only makes matters worse in the land of fair play.
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Johnson has shifted the “common sense” for what works and what doesn’t work. And that is permanent damage to the motherland of democracy.
Although this uneasy feeling extends far into Johnson’s conservative party, a vote of no confidence in the prime minister is unlikely. At the height of the Partygate scandal, the number of Tory MPs calling for their prime minister to be voted out had almost reached the ominous 54 mark. In the meantime, even Johnson’s critics in the parliamentary group downplay the crisis as if it were a traffic ticket.
A police officer outside the UK Headquarters at 10 Downing Street in London.
(Photo: AP)
And it’s not just because of the war in Ukraine. A coup against one’s own prime minister shortly before the local elections on May 5 would be a risky undertaking. The Tories have to reckon with an electoral defeat anyway because of the sharp increase in the cost of living. Inflation in the UK rose to 7% in March, the highest level in 30 years.
One challenger is missing so far
Crucially, however, the Conservatives have no real alternative to Johnson at the moment. His toughest rival, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, has himself received a fine for violating contact restrictions and is counted anyway due to a tax affair by his wife.
All of this helps Johnson to survive this crisis politically. However, he is still a long way from being firmly in the saddle.
With every new ticket, there will also be new demands for resignation. An election disaster in May would damage his winning image. The dissatisfaction of the population will continue to grow in the autumn at the latest, when energy prices rise sharply again.
The Tories will continue to put up with Johnson as long as he keeps them in power. And that depends above all on whether opposition leader Keir Starmer makes his Labor party fit to govern again in the eyes of the British.
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