THE GUARDIAN - OPINION:
Johnson was a magnet for new voters. But many are appalled by his lies, and traditional Conservatives don’t trust him either
Liberal Democrats Helen Morgan and Tim Farron at a rally in Oswestry, Shropshire, after her victory in the North Shropshire byelection, 17 December 2021. Photograph: Jacob King/PA
At last. For the first time since he became prime minister, Boris Johnson is paying a direct price for his actions. For two long years, he seemed to defy the laws of political gravity, somehow floating high in the sky when his conduct, whether his lies or
his failures, should have seen him crash to the ground.
His mishandling of the first phase of the pandemic was so disastrous, he presided over both the
highest death toll in Europe and the deepest economic slump in the G7. It was a record of both calamitous misjudgment and
corruption, as contracts worth hundreds of millions were funnelled to those with friends in high Tory places. He appointed
useless ministers, several of whom became
mired in scandal. And yet Johnson remained aloft, riding the warm air currents of consistent leads in the opinion polls.
His admirers said he was a politician like no other, immune to the pressures that would bring down lesser mortals. That immunity fed a sense of impunity. But in the early hours of Friday morning, among the fields and farms of North Shropshire,
Johnson fell to earth.
The Tories
took a beating in this byelection, losing a seat they had held for the best part of two centuries. Only once before had they seen a
bigger collapse of their vote to the Liberal Democrats (or its predecessor parties), and that was three decades ago. Talk to those involved, on all sides, and they agree that voters were driven chiefly by fury with the prime minister – over the revelations of Downing Street partying when the rest of the country was locked down against a killer disease, and what one minister calls the general “shitshow” of this government.
» |
Jonathan Freedland | Friday, December 17, 2021
