Boris Johnson's Xmas Party Hangover
Who doesn't like to party? Unfortunately, like a great many, yours truly hasn't "partied" for going on two years thanks to the Covid situation. More importantly, the introduction of tier four restrictions just shy of a year ago was a sensible, if belated precaution to stymie the spread of the British-made Kent Variant before the vaccine programme properly ramped up. But it didn't come without cost. Millions of people were stuck on their own. Others missed out on that rare chance to down tools and spend quality time with loved ones. A lot had a miserable time, and for hundreds of thousands of people they missed seeing relatives for the last time before they contracted and succumbed to Covid.
I can well imagine the churning vulcanism out there since it turned out Boris Johnson's hand wringing last Christmas was entirely that and knees ups were a regular occurrence at Number 10. At Wednesday's Prime Minister's Questions, Keir Starmer kept worrying away at it and despite his bombast best, Johnson couldn't help but look shady, evasive, and downright untruthful. Likewise, Johnson's spox had a hard time of it in front of the lobby hacks. When Tory leaders behave like this, you know they've been got bang to rights.
But does it matter? Since his election on a blasted December evening in 2019, Johnson has persistently and repeatedly goaded his new supporters. He concocted and signed up a Brexit deal hailed at the time as the best thing since sliced bread, but now it's treated like an old loaf mouldering on the lawn. We're meant to believe the test and trace debacle and PPE procurement was entirely above board. He has consistently promoted and defended the worst people on the Tory benches, promised and then dramatically scaled back his half-arsed Tory modernisation of the country outside of London and the South East. There was nothing to see here with the ill-fated effort at derailing present and future allegations of corruption against MPs, and now we have this. If you carry on baiting the public the public will be baited. Latest YouGov polling finds 74% of respondents thought 'it mattered' (61% overall say "a lot"), with over half of Tory voters agreeing too. Ouch.
It might turn out that Johnson's shindigs were within the rules. But so was the corruption of the disgraced Owen Paterson and the expenses troughing of the new shadow home secretary, but it's the politics that matter. And in this case, Johnson has affected a very bad look indeed. The idea of sacrificing something while others are laughing at you behind your back has deep resonances in British culture, and one the Tories have mobilised effectively plenty of times. On this occasion the shoe is on the other foot and it's reasonable to assume this will prove even more damaging, coming hot on the heels of the corruption allegations.
But there is something curious about the whole affair. Why has it taken almost a year to come out? True, the Tory press have only turned on Johnson relatively recently, but the media's blue wall that has sheltered him so effectively is not a seamless edifice. There are leaks and gaps between the brickwork. Given how incestuous the relationship is between top politicians and top journalists, it's unclear why we've been waiting so long for the detail to emerge. Basic class solidarity? Respecting state authority for the duration of a national emergency? Take your pick, but the clues Johnson had disregarded the rules have been in the public domain for a couple of months. It emerged Nimco Ali, one of Carrie Johnson's chums, spent last Christmas with her, Wilfred, and the other baby. Again, entirely in contravention of the rules. One rule for them, to coin a phrase.
Johnson has played fast and loose with people's patience these last two years, and repeated disasters have pricked the Prime Minister's balloon. But is this the moment his fortunes head south? For once, I don't fancy his chances.
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