Boris Johnson says “to assume”. Corn “to assume” what ?
Does he take responsibility for the spectacular defeat of his Conservative Party in the by-election in North Shropshire (in the west of England), which he himself had provoked by supporting the local MP accused of corruption? This rural, wealthy constituency, where we meet gentlemen farmers in Barbour and Wellington, had been a curator since its inception two hundred years ago. In June 2016, she voted 60% in favor of Brexit. Today she triumphantly elects a representative of the Liberal Democrats, Britain’s most pro-European party.
Does he assume the multiple Christmas parties that took place under his roof, on 10 Downing Street, in December 2020, not to mention a pizza party last May, when the country was confined?
Does he assume the return of the absolute anguish of a virus which never ceases to prevent normal life, which gallops in the United Kingdom, where it has already killed 147,000 people, while, for months, no barrier gesture is observed or mask worn, whether in offices or on public transport?
Is he taking on the galloping inflation, the suffering economy, drastically declining foreign investments, these European students who are deserting British universities, this famous Brexit which has still not produced the slightest positive result which allows us to say , openly and proudly, that it’s much better now than it was five years ago?
Boris Johnson says he “Understand why people have felt frustrated”, that he takes “Personal responsibility” of the calamitous result of the election. “With all humility, I must accept this verdict.” The British are not “Frustrated” but exasperated, annoyed and, also, after two years of the pandemic, tired. Boris Johnson no longer makes people laugh. What if humility was one of his qualities, it would be known.
What legitimacy does he have today to impose the slightest restriction, to demand the slightest effort from the British? One rule for him and his fellows, another for others. He has demonstrated it on numerous occasions, his moral compass is either non-existent or seriously out of order.
Two years after his triumphant election, he achieved the feat of isolating his country, in open conflict with France but also the EU, mocked by others. Discreetly, his government has even backed down in recent weeks on fishing, granting a drip of new licenses and admitting that the supremacy of the European Court of Justice in the Northern Irish protocol cannot be called into question. Fortunately for Johnson, the repeated scandals have so far drowned the fish …
The next UK general election is scheduled for May 2024. Reasonably, if the Tories are to be in working order to try to win a majority after what will then be fourteen years in power, they will need to organize themselves right away. next summer and be convinced that their leader is the champion to come. Will this champion be Boris Johnson again? Not sure at all.
Boris Johnson has few friends. Many of those around him, mediocre politicians now drunk with the unexpected power that an ill-prepared referendum has bestowed upon them, have supported him because they saw it as a formidable opportunity for their careers. Many, however, three years ago still said worse than hanging about him. He doesn’t have a real clan. He is a current on his own, or rather he is the only actor of the Boris Johnson show. Which increasingly turns out to be an oven.