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– This is the beginning of a new era, said Prime Minister Boris Johnson encouragingly. It was January 31, 2020, the night Britain formally left the EU. Boris Johnson’s political career was at its zenith.
The fall of 2019 had been tough for the newly appointed Prime Minister. There had been fierce fighting in parliament and constitutional oddities that even dragged the queen herself into the Brexit drama.
But Boris Johnson had he played high and Boris Johnson had won. In January 2020, all his political problems seemed to be solved. In triumph, he went on vacation with his pregnant girlfriend. 2020 would be his year: a “fantastic year for Britain”.
Instead, it turned into a nightmare. Pandemic, economy in free fall and collapsed trade negotiations with the EU. Boris Johnson himself was also dying from the virus he was meant to fight.
It was like a Greek drama: the hero who from childhood wanted to be “king of the world” (but had to settle for the post of prime minister) is punished by the gods for arrogance with shit after shit squarely in the face.
Then he defended himself. Health and politics. In early December, it actually looked pretty bright. The UK was the first Western country to initiate mass vaccination against covid-19, and even if the Brexit negotiations did not go well, the country would have at least had time to prepare for a possible non-contractual Brexit in January.
Then everything fell apart again. During a conference call this weekend, the Prime Minister finally understood what the virus mutation that had been found in Kent County really meant. The researchers suspected that the virus strain was up to 70 percent more contagious. Boris Johnson found no other advice than to shut down much of England again. The only reason it closed the country in early November was so it could open up for Christmas. Now he was suddenly in the worst of both worlds.
And what happened next reportedly brought him completely to bed.
Country after country closed its borders to immigrants from Great Britain. But most of all, France didn’t just do that: it also stopped manned freight traffic. Suddenly parts of southeastern Kent in England began to become a truck park and all of Britain was threatened by shortages of lettuce and citrus.
Everything did not have it could have happened at a less opportune time. In less than two weeks, the UK will leave the EU single market. No trade agreement has yet been finalized. In the worst case, the country will collapse. This carries a risk of commercial chaos, a commercial chaos that in that case will add to an already existing chaos caused by the international response to the mutated virus.
According to The Times, many around Boris Johnson believe that France’s reaction is primarily a political game. The French president is doing what he is doing to pressure the British in the ongoing Brexit negotiations. It has nothing to do with the virus, they claim.
But the French government denies. And regardless of all the Brexit disputes between France and Britain, almost every government in the world right now is under pressure to show that they are “doing something.” So perhaps Boris Johnson shouldn’t be so surprised that his island kingdom is suddenly very isolated this Christmas week.
However, on Tuesday afternoon, help came from an unexpected direction. Brexit Boris Johnson received fire support from Brussels. The European Commission called on all EU countries to do what they can to open transport links with the UK, with regard to goods.
Sometimes it is good to have the EU. Even if your name is Boris Johnson.
To be continue.
2020 is not over yet for the proven British prime minister.
Read more texts by Katrin Marçal
