He now faces a monumental challenge to turn this around, his authority, popularity, and political purpose lying in tatters with few obvious ways to put it all back together. That was less than three years ago, but regardless of today’s survival, he seems perilously close to having thrown it all away. In 10 Downing Street soon after his election victory was confirmed, one of his aides told me that Johnson’s was a 10-year project-at least. At a stroke Johnson became the most radical and consequential prime minister since Thatcher and, it seemed, was destined to remain in office for as long. Britain had voted to leave the European Union, but its political class had proved unable to fulfill this instruction, and so Johnson was given the power to enact the revolution the public demanded, overhauling the Conservative Party and the country in the process, and winning the biggest Tory majority in 30 years. Then, his character faults were less important than his political potential. Johnson was the instrument necessary to “get Brexit done,” a phrase he repeated ad nauseam during the 2019 election campaign. It is especially so for Johnson, who was elevated to power not because Conservative parliamentarians ever particularly liked or respected him, let alone backed his political philosophy-if such a thing exists-but because they concluded that he was their only hope of saving the party from electoral oblivion. And so long as the country feels this way, he is toast-or, if he isn’t, then the Conservative Party most certainly is.įor any prime minister, this is a deadly bind. Appalled by revelations of drunken parties in 10 Downing Street during the COVID lockdowns, the country seems to have concluded that it will not vote for him again. In Britain, Johnson is opposed both in the country at large and among what should be the Tory grassroots. This is no repeat of the Donald Trump impeachment drama, where the president might have been unpopular nationally but was protected by a wall of support from his base. The fundamental problem for Johnson is that he is now a populist who is no longer popular. Even though each prevailed, for Margaret Thatcher, John Major, and Theresa May, the very fact of being challenged marked the beginning of the end. Each of his Tory predecessors who were challenged to a vote of confidence lost power soon after, many spectacularly. This “victory,” however, marks just the beginning of Johnson’s fight for survival. Yet, once again, this master of evasion somehow managed to escape, winning 211 votes to 148 to stay in post. Had he lost, even by a single vote, the process to replace him as party leader-and prime minister-would have begun immediately, culminating in a new appointment within weeks-the sixth British leader in the space of just 15 years, an astonishing period of political instability and failure. Britain, meanwhile, lives to endure another day in his shadow, a bit part in the soap opera of his life, watching on as the drama is set on an endless doom loop from comic farce to tragedy.Īfter months of turmoil over Johnson’s behavior in office, in which he became the first sitting British prime minister ever to be fined for breaking the law, enough of his fellow Conservative members of Parliament finally plucked up the courage to trigger a formal vote of confidence in his leadership of the party. Optional Professional Learning 2021-2022įind out what is going on at your child's school anytime, anywhere! With PowerSchool's Parent Portal, you can see your child's class assignments, email teachers and view grades.Boris Johnson lives to fight another day.Connecticut Children's Pediatric Hotline to Address Coronavirus Concerns.Choice Programs and Specialized Schools.Curriculum and Instructional Technology.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |