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London (AFP)
Described as dejected and dogmatic even by his supporters, Boris Johnson is enduring a torrid moment in his tumultuous tenure as prime minister, and the worst may happen.
The coronavirus pandemic is testing all world leaders. But Britain has suffered more than any other country in Europe, and now the prime minister is facing a revolt from fellow conservatives accusing him of ruling by dictation.
If the Covid-19 crisis has dictated the need for emergency policies on the fly, the government has had plenty of time to prepare for life outside of the European Union.
But there, too, an air of mutiny hangs over parliament after Johnson chose a Brexit fight with Brussels that puts Britain on the wrong side of international law.
The bleak atmosphere is a sea change from last year, when Johnson showed his devastating campaign skills to win first the Tory leadership and then a general election.
“Conservative MPs did not choose Boris Johnson as their leader because they thought he would be a great prime minister,” Tim Bale, a professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London, told AFP.
“They chose him as their leader because they were desperate to win an election,” he said. “There is probably always the hope that someone will convert to work. There is some alarm that has not occurred.
The main opposition Labor party is making a comeback in opinion polls under its new leader, Keir Starmer, a former lawyer who has been subjecting Johnson to forensic questioning in the House of Commons.
But it is in the ranks of his own Conservative party that Johnson faces the greatest test.
– Sunak puts on the gauntlet –
His finance minister, Rishi Sunak, is winning applause for a series of expensive coronavirus economic packages.
In the Royal Blue Daily Telegraph, commentator Katy Balls wrote that Sunak is “being hailed as a pending prime minister,” though she noted that he may still prove a hit when it comes to balancing the books as mass unemployment returns.
In announcing his latest package on Thursday, the Chancellor of the Exchequer said Britons must learn to “live without fear,” delighting conservative skeptics who want Johnson to prioritize company survival over stricter closures.
The prime minister’s 80-seat majority should provide a comfortable cushion, but 40-60 conservatives are said to be planning a revolt when the government’s emergency powers against the coronavirus are renewed this week.
Johnson himself nearly died of Covid-19 in April. Raising questions about his political acumen lately, some conservatives have openly expressed concerns about the long-term effects on his health.
“Whatever the cause, it has become doctrinaire and resistant to debate,” argued Stephen Glover, a columnist for the Daily Mail.
For The Spectator, a news magazine Johnson once edited, the prime minister presides over “disorder, debacle, rebellion, U-turn and confusion.”
“He is no longer in a position to be prime minister and should resign as soon as Brexit ends,” wrote Spectator aide Toby Young, usually a fervent Johnson supporter.
– ‘Out of its depth’ –
Achieving Brexit with a “oven-ready” EU divorce deal was the promise Johnson made to the electorate last December, five months after succeeding Theresa May as prime minister.
May is now aligned with the rebels who oppose the government’s internal market bill, which is meant to protect intra-UK trade after Brexit, at the cost of violating treaty promises made to the EU.
The government appears to have bought into some of the disaffected by amending the legislation ahead of a final Commons vote this week.
But the bill would still give parliament the right to violate the EU Withdrawal Agreement, and the 27-nation bloc remains deeply discontent.
Both sides hope to reach a new trade deal before a summit in mid-October, but the prospect of a chaotic “no-deal” split looms in December, when the post-Brexit transition period ends.
Ahead of the EU summit, Johnson will preside over the Conservatives’ annual conference on Oct. 3-6, usually a time when party loyalists applaud his Churchillian rhetoric.
But the conference is totally virtual this year, thanks to the pandemic, depriving it of the opportunity to regroup and rediscover its usual enthusiasm.
Johnson’s depressing public behavior could be linked to a slow recovery from Covid-19 and life with a newborn baby at 10 Downing Street, some commentators argue.
“But it may have more to do with the fact that you are in a job where it seems very out of your league,” said Professor Bale.
© 2020 AFP
