Comment editor Samuel Pennifold on the rise and fall of Boris Johnson as pressure mounts on him to resign.
The rain of Boris Johnson has suddenly started to feel eerily like Shakespeare’s Macbeth, and now we are not entering the final disastrous act. The usurper prime minister, that started so well, until through his shortcomings his power has seemingly started to slip away, to now potentially be brought down by journalists born of women. Whilst this story will not end with Johnson slain in battle it could be just as dramatic.
Public and political pressure has been mounting on Boris Johnson to resign for weeks amidst a storm of allegations, newspaper stories, and photos of staffers and the Prime Minister himself partying across Whitehall during the various Covid-19 lockdowns. Johnson initially told members of the commons that no partying took place, despite this though he is now hiding behind the Sue Gray report and the Met Police investigation into the matter, refusing multiple times in the latest PMQs to answer questions on the parties he allegedly attended.
Now MPs and members of the media have been lining up to accuse the Prime Minister of misleading the House of Commons, an offence that according to the ministerial code is resignation worthy. Now amidst the storm raging around Johnson his most senior staff have resigned en mass and a slow trickle of conservative MPs have publicly filed letters of no confidence in the PM. This may be perhaps the most sure-fire sign that for Johnson this play is almost over as rumours swirl that Johnson could face a vote of no confidence from his party as early as next week. It now seems to be a matter of when not if Johnson is forced to resign from office or face being unceremoniously pushed out. As the final act of the Tragedy of Boris Johnson plays out in front of us, looking back we should not surprised this is how it could all end.
Johnson ascended to the throne of British politics on a wave of optimism after his crushing general election win in late 2019, despite this, his power has been slowly crumbling away ever since through an unfortunate mix of circumstance and ineptitude. The handling of the Covid-19 pandemic by Johnson and his government has been nothing short of a disgrace to this country. Through a combination of lying, profiting, and sheer incompetence Johnson has led this country to one of the highest death tolls in the world and one of the largest economic collapses. Millions of pounds have been wasted on ineffective or non-existent PPE, promises of an app to help track Covid-19 were broken after it took months to deliver (and didn’t work), care homes were left to fend for themselves like the people living there were already dead in the eyes of the government, nurses and doctors were left broken and unprotected, and thousands became unwell and died whilst this government partied away.
Johnson’s failure to effectively manage the Covid-19 pandemic will highlight our collective memory of Johnson’s premiership, regardless of if this is the end, his failures go much further beyond the Covid-19 pandemic. The list of controversies and failures that Johnson has presided over includes the unlawful prorogation of parliament in 2019, a manifesto breaking hike in national insurance, massive rates of inflation, the skyrocketing price of living that will leave many in relative poverty, fears of fuel shortages during this last winter, and a so-called “oven-ready†Brexit that still has not been resolved. Johnson has lied and misled the public with such ease one must assume he has never been challenged in his life over any of the claims he asserts with his best every-man impression. Johnson has risen through the ranks of public office by little more than his charm, the seat of his pants, and the backing of the rich and powerful. Johnson whose public life might have started as a newspaperman has become much more and perhaps highlighted by becoming the flagbearer of Brexit has flip-flopped from position to position his whole career is nothing more than an attempt to fulfil his destiny as an Eton educated schoolboy with a name that carries weight in the upper echelons of British society. Johnson has become emblematic of all that has become broken in British politics and society, where privilege will take you further and higher than talent and hard work.
Sadly though in the modern world, flip-flopping on your positions and lying has been the making of a great politician, and make no mistake Johnson is one. His 2019 general election win was thumping and wiped out the so-called “red wall†of northern Labour safe seats but was based upon a rotten foundation of lies and spin. Johnson may be a great politician but he is not the statesman or woman of Conservative history like Disraeli, Churchill, or Thatcher he so desperately tries to be. Though the lies and the spin might now be catching up to Johnson with the pedalling of the far-right meme and lie that whilst head of the Public Prosecutions opposition leader Kier Starmer failed or chose not to prosecute Jimmy Savile. This far-right meme is nothing short of a lie, based on nothing even remotely resembling evidence. When Johnson accused Starmer of this in the House of Commons on Tuesday MPs were swift to say this was a step too far, and even as Johnson has attempted to row back on the comments his Chancellor Rishi Sunak said “I wouldn’t have said itâ€. It is not often in British politics that cabinet ministers, let alone the chancellor, will break ranks in such a public fashion. This moment has held up an interesting mirror to Johnson and the reflection looking back seems to be rather Donald Trump election result denier-esk. As support for Johnson drains away in the commons and cabinet the Macdudd to Johnson Macbeth might be his once closest aid, Munira Mirza, who has now resigned over what they called a “scurrilous†attack on Starmer by Johnson. Mirza has been with Johnson for the last 14 years working as an aid and intellectual challenger from his time as mayor, foreign secretary and now PM. As his allies flee him it seems as though at any moment the pressure may grow too much and Johnson will inevitably lose this final battle.
The tragedy of Boris Johnson’s premiership has been calamitous from the beginning to the end, and now as the final ugly act plays out across our televisions and on the front paper of the UK’s tabloids and broadsheets one can only hope the damage Johnson has done to public trust of government and politics can be reversed.
