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It feels like an eternity, but last winter, Boris Johnson celebrated triumphs on the assembly line.
He took office as prime minister last summer, negotiated a withdrawal deal with the EU against all odds in the fall and crushed the opposition in a new election just before Christmas.
In practice, he was the nail in the coffin for Brexit opponents, and here and there Boris was king.
Then the crown broke through. The prime minister ended up in intensive care and GDP fell 20 percent. 7 in 10 Britons think the government has mishandled the pandemic and Johnson’s opinion figures have fallen like a rock.
This week, the most new crown drops since the outbreak were reported, and Labor topped the Johnson Tories in polls for the first time in human memory.
Party comrades are furious that ever-new and far-reaching restrictions are not anchored in parliament or even in the party. Several of them affirm that “the riot is suspended in the air”.
The process goes backwards, not forwards.
Parallel to all this, the Brexit process has been tough. The British and the EU have until the new year to sign a trade deal, but everyone knows the deal must be praised ashore this October if the European Parliament wants to ratify it before the formal deadline expires.
It’s not going to happen. The process goes backwards, not forwards. This week, the British House of Commons produced a Johnson proposal, which effectively exceeds last year’s exit agreement and would lead to politically explosive tariffs between Ireland and Northern Ireland – that is, exactly what the UE wanted to avoid.
On Thursday, the Commission took a hard line by initiating a lawsuit that further complicates matters. Today, Saturday, Johnson will meet with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in a last-minute attempt to find a solution.
Anyone who believes that the conflict between Catholics and Protestants cannot flare up again, think again.
However, most signs point to the UK leaving the EU by the end of the year. This means that crown-weary Brits who huddle at home instead of going to the pub, have to get used to the lines of trucks at the border, and in the worst case, empty the store shelves in a few months.
It is unlikely to do wonders with the prime minister’s confidence figures.
Boris Johnson has gone into a corner. His tricks threaten Britain’s position as a serious international actor, because by what moral authority does he blame China for Hong Kong’s illegal violations or persuade Iran to commit to international agreements, if it violates its own? Furthermore, peace in Northern Ireland is threatened.
Anyone who believes that the centuries-old conflict between Catholics and Protestants cannot flare up again, think again.
The 1998 Good Friday Agreement ended a 30-year spiral of violence, largely by abolishing the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland. Boris Johnson’s Brexit would restore it. Make your own conclusions.
