Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s authority has been severely damaged in the run-up to the second lockdown in England, which will take effect at midnight.
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Health Minister Matt Hancock slid uncomfortably on the wooden bench in the front row of the House of Commons yesterday afternoon. Diagonally behind him, Iain Duncan Smith, the former leader of the Conservative Party, spoke menacingly: “Anyone who is responsible for this must be fired.”
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Smith went on: “The perpetrator should be pilloried, come here to apologize, crawl out the door and be beaten.” He was referring to the leak of confidential information about the corona crisis to various media last Friday evening. The cabinet’s intention to lock England in a lockdown for four weeks thus ended up on the street in undiluted form.
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PR-ramp
The leak was the beginning of a public relations disaster for Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Earlier in the day, he had been persuaded to introduce stricter measures during a top meeting with scientists. Without drastic action, the daily death toll could rise to four thousand in a month. Hospitals carried weight. A chronic shortage of beds in intensive care was imminent.
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Johnson did not want to make a decision right away, but rather wait and see the weekend. The leak forced him to continue immediately. A messy press conference, postponed no less than three times, followed on Saturday. The fact that not Johnson but two scientific advisers were given the floor first caused bad blood among many party members. He gave them the impression that they had lost control of his own policy.
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Anonymous sources
At 10 Downing Street, close associates of the Prime Minister swore wholeheartedly. Johnson was put in his shirt by the leak. On The Times Anonymous sources reported that no effort was spared to apprehend the culprit. If necessary, the police were called in. The Metropolitan Police did not have to deploy large equipment, as only four men were present at the summit meeting.
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In addition to Johnson, ministers Rishi Sunak (Finance), Matt Hancock and Michael Gove (General Affairs) sat down. Suspicions centered on Hancock, a strong supporter of tougher measures. Gove, chairman of the Covid committee, was also viewed with suspicion. In 2016, he already stabbed Johnson in the back on the eve of elections for leadership.
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Second lockdown
Gove, known in Westminster as a professional snake, suddenly withdrew his support of his friend. Johnson, he said, could not be trusted with the highest office. He put himself forward as a candidate. After this stunt, the former mayor of London withdrew from the race to succeed the retired Prime Minister David Cameron. Ultimately, Theresa May emerged as the winner.
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In the chaos surrounding the introduction of the second lockdown, Johnson lost a good deal of his already-damaged credibility. A few weeks earlier, he called such a measure a ‘nuclear option’. The models used by his advisers also turned out to be less harsh than stated and possibly outdated. Scientists from King’s College, for example, concluded that the infection rate had already fallen sufficiently.
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Comeback Nigel Farage
Nigel Farage took advantage of the confusion to further corner the Conservative Party. His Brexit Party will be renamed Reform Party UK. Growing dissatisfaction with the government’s corona policy is the driving force behind the movement. A YouGov survey found that 73 percent of the population supports a second lockdown, a 22 percent decrease from the first.
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The vote on the proposal came by the House of Commons yesterday, although no fewer than 32 Conservative MPs turned against the government. That number probably would have been much higher had it not been for the Labor opposition party to rally behind Johnson, leaving a majority virtually fixed. However, the prime minister’s authority was ravaged, with Iain Duncan Smith as battering ram.
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“Normally advisers should give advice and ministers make the decisions,” he sneered. This time, not Hancock but Johnson stared at the tips of his shoes.
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