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National blockade number two. It was a policy that two weeks ago, the prime minister not only rejected on the floor of the House of Commons, but lashed out at Sir Keir Starmer for supporting.
So going to the House of Commons on Monday to ask parliament to back a four-week lockdown would always be very uncomfortable for Boris johnson and the U-turn has deeply angered many of its deputies.
They are angry not just at the substance of the U-turn (many are deeply opposed to new restrictions) but at the way the prime minister and his team handled politics.
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Less than two weeks ago, the Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ) had asked MPs to share clips on social media showing the prime minister attacking Sir keir, the Labor leader, for calling for a brief national shutdown.
CCHQ posted a clip of the prime minister declaring that the idea of a “circuit breaker” lockdown was “wrong for this country” while its own “common sense local and regional approach” was the right thing to do.
MPs who loyally defended that message could be forgiven for feeling quite aggrieved now.
At least the prime minister appeared in the Commons on Monday to have learned something from this politically difficult U-turn, as he refused to rule out anything inside or outside while addressing MPs.
What was clear to him was that the impending national restrictions would expire on December 2 and parliamentarians would vote on what comes next.
What Johnson did not promise is an end to those restrictions.
He “intends” to revert to a tiered system, but it will depend on the “latest data and trends.”
And, as the pattern of the virus changes, the prime minister is also moving the targets: His game plan changes amid concerns about public compliance, a faltering test-and-trace system and a decline. COVID-19 data.
While a few weeks ago Mr. Johnson promised us the hope of a normal Christmas, on Monday he only spoke of beating the virus in the spring.
For a prime minister who trades with optimism, sticking to stark realism is not his comfortable place.
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But for MPs like Douglas Ross, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, it is a better position than the knots the party has been tied into in recent weeks.
He told Sky News: “The prime minister is giving people hope that this circuit breaker lockout will only last four weeks.
“But we also can’t guarantee that we’ll be in the right place within a month, so again, like ruling out a national shutdown, I don’t think we can rule out anything and we will have to keep all options open.
As for the Commons vote on Wednesday for MPs to authorize the new national restrictions, it will pass after Labor confirms they will support the shutdown.
That, in turn, has taken the air out of conservative rebellions that may once have had teeth, but will now be symbolic.
Sir Charles Walker, vice chairman of the 1922 Conservative Backbenchers Committee, told Sky News that he believes that, in the end, the rebellion might not exceed 20 people.
But don’t underestimate the deep discontent in the party that is rapidly running out of faith in its prime minister and his 10th operation.
Johnson’s ray of hope on Monday was the prospect of millions of rapid tests to lift the country out of lockdowns, as he raised the possibility of city-wide testing as part of efforts to detect cases and break transmission chains.
Such a breakthrough would change the rules of the game for the country and for Johnson’s prime minister as well.
