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25 Blunders And Scandals.
25 blunders, scandals and crises of Boris Johnson a year after he won election
Boris Johnson triumphantly entered Downing Street a year ago on the back of a decisive election victory.
Full of promises to "level up" the country and to "get Brexit done", the new Prime Minister was confident he had the mandate - and the Tory majority - to reshape the nation.
But the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic derailed his plans and set his premiership on a course no one could have foreseen.
A year on, the freedom-loving PM has presided over the greatest peace-time restrictions on daily life the country has seen as the grim death toll from the virus went beyond 60,000.
And his Brexit optimism has been turned to misery as the country hurtles towards a no-deal exit at the end of the year.
Here we look back at a year of blunders and U-turns as Mr Johnson lurched from crisis to crisis.
Of course, no government could have avoided blunders in an unprecedented pandemic.
And Boris Johnson was, of course, laid up in intensive care with coronavirus.
And there have been successes - from developing a vaccine in record time to supporting millions of jobs through furlough.
But critics say the sheer weight and number of blunders, U-turns and catastrophes are a mark of failure - not just by him personally, but by the government elected by a landslide.
1. Locking down 'too late'
Boris Johnson was accused of dithering over lockdown for a few crucial days in March while the virus spun out of control.
The Cheltenham Festival and Liverpool vs Atletico Madrid were allowed to go ahead early in the month while fears mounted.
And the Prime Minister announced people to stop all unnecessary social contact on March 16 - before lockdown legally took effect a week later on March 23.
SAGE advisor John Edmunds said "poor" data back in March made it hard to "pull the trigger.. but I wish we had, I wish we had gone into lockdown earlier. I think that has cost a lot of lives, unfortunately.”
2. Delaying second lockdown
Mr Johnson overruled Government scientists who pressed for national lockdown measures such as stopping all household mixing and closing all pubs in September.
Papers from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) called for an immediate introduction of national interventions, saying failure to take such measures could result in "a very large epidemic with catastrophic consequences".
Top of this list of five interventions was a two- to three-week circuit breaker lockdown.
Mr Johnson ignored those calls but when cases continued to rise he called a second national lockdown in November.
The effect? Lost time and potentially thousands of lives lost.
3. Care home seeding the virus
Covid-19 ripped through care homes at the start of the pandemic, as elderly people proved extremely vulnerable to the virus.
It emerged that many elderly people were discharged from hospitals in March to free up beds - and returned to care homes without being tested.
This decision has been blamed for helping the virus to spread.
Providers were told by the Government in March it was “unlikely” residents would be infected and patients who tested positive for Covid-19 were allowed back as long as staff wore PPE and took precautions. The guidance was ripped up several times.
Elderly residents and staff were prioritised for testing but some struggled to get access to tests.
By the end of April, all residents were supposed to be tested - even if they didn’t have symptoms.
Mr Johnson has admitted a major failing was not realising how far the virus could be spread asymptomatically.
4. Travel quarantine chaos
Holidaymakers faced misery this summer after the chaotic introduction of quarantine for foreign travellers.
Brits were allowed to go abroad after the end of the first lockdown, but rising cases in countries like Spain led to sudden introductions of quarantine restrictions.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps even fell foul of his own rules after flying to Spain for a family holiday in July, forcing him to self-isolate for 14 days when he rushed back to deal with the fallout.
Holidaymakers were often given only a few hours notice of changes to the travel corridor list, leading to chaos at airports as Brits rushed to get home before the rules kicked in.
5. Fees for NHS staff to use the NHS were axed in a U-turn
Overseas NHS staff and care workers were finally exempted from paying a charge to use the NHS in May.
Boris Johnson’s spokesman initially defended the rules, which meant non-EU migrants working for the health service had to pay the £400 a year surcharge. The fees rose to £624 in October.
However the PM quickly U-turned amid huge political pressure to support key workers saving lives during the pandemic.
Boris Johnson triumphantly entered Downing Street a year ago on the back of a decisive election victory.
Full of promises to "level up" the country and to "get Brexit done", the new Prime Minister was confident he had the mandate - and the Tory majority - to reshape the nation.
But the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic derailed his plans and set his premiership on a course no one could have foreseen.
A year on, the freedom-loving PM has presided over the greatest peace-time restrictions on daily life the country has seen as the grim death toll from the virus went beyond 60,000.
And his Brexit optimism has been turned to misery as the country hurtles towards a no-deal exit at the end of the year.
Here we look back at a year of blunders and U-turns as Mr Johnson lurched from crisis to crisis.
Of course, no government could have avoided blunders in an unprecedented pandemic.
And Boris Johnson was, of course, laid up in intensive care with coronavirus.
And there have been successes - from developing a vaccine in record time to supporting millions of jobs through furlough.
But critics say the sheer weight and number of blunders, U-turns and catastrophes are a mark of failure - not just by him personally, but by the government elected by a landslide.
1. Locking down 'too late'
Boris Johnson was accused of dithering over lockdown for a few crucial days in March while the virus spun out of control.
The Cheltenham Festival and Liverpool vs Atletico Madrid were allowed to go ahead early in the month while fears mounted.
And the Prime Minister announced people to stop all unnecessary social contact on March 16 - before lockdown legally took effect a week later on March 23.
SAGE advisor John Edmunds said "poor" data back in March made it hard to "pull the trigger.. but I wish we had, I wish we had gone into lockdown earlier. I think that has cost a lot of lives, unfortunately.”
2. Delaying second lockdown
Mr Johnson overruled Government scientists who pressed for national lockdown measures such as stopping all household mixing and closing all pubs in September.
Papers from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) called for an immediate introduction of national interventions, saying failure to take such measures could result in "a very large epidemic with catastrophic consequences".
Top of this list of five interventions was a two- to three-week circuit breaker lockdown.
Mr Johnson ignored those calls but when cases continued to rise he called a second national lockdown in November.
The effect? Lost time and potentially thousands of lives lost.
3. Care home seeding the virus
Covid-19 ripped through care homes at the start of the pandemic, as elderly people proved extremely vulnerable to the virus.
It emerged that many elderly people were discharged from hospitals in March to free up beds - and returned to care homes without being tested.
This decision has been blamed for helping the virus to spread.
Providers were told by the Government in March it was “unlikely” residents would be infected and patients who tested positive for Covid-19 were allowed back as long as staff wore PPE and took precautions. The guidance was ripped up several times.
Elderly residents and staff were prioritised for testing but some struggled to get access to tests.
By the end of April, all residents were supposed to be tested - even if they didn’t have symptoms.
Mr Johnson has admitted a major failing was not realising how far the virus could be spread asymptomatically.
4. Travel quarantine chaos
Holidaymakers faced misery this summer after the chaotic introduction of quarantine for foreign travellers.
Brits were allowed to go abroad after the end of the first lockdown, but rising cases in countries like Spain led to sudden introductions of quarantine restrictions.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps even fell foul of his own rules after flying to Spain for a family holiday in July, forcing him to self-isolate for 14 days when he rushed back to deal with the fallout.
Holidaymakers were often given only a few hours notice of changes to the travel corridor list, leading to chaos at airports as Brits rushed to get home before the rules kicked in.
5. Fees for NHS staff to use the NHS were axed in a U-turn
Overseas NHS staff and care workers were finally exempted from paying a charge to use the NHS in May.
Boris Johnson’s spokesman initially defended the rules, which meant non-EU migrants working for the health service had to pay the £400 a year surcharge. The fees rose to £624 in October.
However the PM quickly U-turned amid huge political pressure to support key workers saving lives during the pandemic.
Comments
6. Widespread testing for coronavirus was abandoned - only to eventually start again
Mass coronavirus testing was axed in the early stages of the pandemic, as ministers decided to focus on testing people in hospitals and care homes.
It came as the UK struggled to get the testing system off the ground.
Scientists have since said it would have been better to get widespread testing going sooner as infected people went untraced.
Mass testing was piloted in Liverpool in November, with similar schemes rolled out in other high risk areas.
7. Longer Sunday opening hours were shelved
Plans to relax strict Sunday trading rules were shelved by the Government in June after a backbench Tory revolt.
The PM had been considering letting retailers stay open for longer to help them recover from the impact of the first lockdown, where all non-essential shops had to close.
But angry Tory traditionalists forced ministers to scrap the plan over fears of the impact on family life if parents had to work longer at weekends.
8. Trespassing on holiday
Boris Johnson got into hot water after he was accused of trespassing during his Scottish summer holiday in August.
The Prime Minister and his fiancee Carrie Symonds angered sheep farmer Kenny Cameron when they pitched their eight foot bell tent on his land - and had a campfire.
The couple had been staying with their baby son Wilfred at a cottage near Applecross, which looks out over Rona and Raasay.
Mr Cameron told reporters the PM had set up camp in his 20-acre field, apparently believing it was part of land belonging to the cottage.
“Mr Johnson is meant to be leading the country and yet he is not setting a great example,” he said.
9. Covid contract cronyism
Boris Johnson was repeatedly accused of cronyism after a string of Tory-linked firms received lucrative Government contracts.
The spending watchdog found companies recommended by MPs, ministers and peers were given priority for contracts to produce personal protective equipment amid shortages of vital kit.
Over half of the £18bn spent on pandemic-related contracts was awarded without competitive tender, the National Audit Office said.
The Mirror revealed how £550,000 was handed to Public First, a firm owned by allies of Michael Gove and Dominic Cummings.
Another deal saw a PPE deal worth millions handed to a small pest control supplies firm. Health Secretary Matt Hancock faced questions after his former pub landlord won a massive testing contract.
10. GCSE and A-level downgrades were scrapped
In August, Ministers performed a screeching U-turn over exams grading which plunged thousands of teens into despair.
Because students could not sit GCSEs and A-levels due to coronavirus, their grades in England were based on predicted grades, submitted by their teachers. These are called 'Centre Assessment Grades' (CAGs).
But those CAGs were moderated by exam boards first, before they got turned into a final grade.
This "standardisation" was supposed to make sure the same standard is applied for all students, whichever school, college or part of the country they come from.
Yet a bungled computer algorithm downgraded 39% of results - 25,000 of them by two or more grades.
A system to appeal using their mock result then failed to get up and running swiftly after A-level results rolled in. That meant thousands were in limbo with no uni place.
On August 17, ministers announced teachers' predictions would now be used instead of the computer algorithm.
But it came too late for some 18-year-olds to go to the university of their choice. Beleaguered Education Secretary Gavin Williamson failed to guarantee there will be enough capacity for all of them after some already filled up.
11. Face coverings were little use - but now they're compulsory almost everywhere
For months Boris Johnson - and his medical advisors - insisted there was little benefit of covering your face to slow the spread of coronavirus.
But two months after the first case reached the UK - Boris Johnson admitted: "I do think face coverings will be useful, both for epidemiological reasons, but also for giving people confidence that they can go back to work."
Face coverings were later made mandatory by law on public transport, followed by shops and supermarkets, and other venues such as churches and cinemas.
12. Dominic Cummings' lockdown trip
Mr Johnson refused to sack Dominic Cummings - even when evidence showed that his aide's trip to Durham at the height of lockdown drastically undermined public trust in the Government’s handling of the pandemic.
Analysis by University College London found the actions of the PM’s chief adviser reduced people’s willingness to follow social distancing rules.
It revealed that adherence to lockdown, which was already starting to decline, dropped more rapidly in the weeks following the revelations.
But despite that, he clung on for months.
13. Cummings then left in chaotic scenes anyway
After months of standing by Mr Cummings, Boris Johnson's inner court tore itself apart in a wave of fratricidal bloodletting in mid-November.
Despite the UK facing a second lockdown to contain the virus, the PM took time out of his busy schedule to plunge Downing Street into chaos with the departure of Comms Chief Lee Cain and Mr Cummings.
The two controversial advisors left abruptly leaving chaos in their wake - and a row about if they'd left by mutual consent or after clashes with the PM's beau Ms Symonds.
Mr Johnson has since tried to stabilise the ship but their departure was a costly distraction at the peak of the pandemic.
14. Priti Patel bullying saga
Mr Johnson faces the accusation he is willing to quash allegations of bullying and harassment if it served him politically.
In November the PM cleared Priti Patel of bullying staff at the Home Office and other departments - but he is now facing legal action over that decision.
A lengthy inquiry found Ms Patel's behaviour, including shouting and swearing at staff, amounted to bullying.
But Mr Johnson overruled the civil servant in charge of the process - prompting them to resign.
Now lawyers acting for the FDA senior civil servants’ union have issued a pre-action notice to Downing Street, accusing the prime minister of acting unlawfully by overruling the findings of his own independent adviser Sir Alex Allan.
15. Huawei U-turn
In July, Boris Johnson launched a major diplomatic incident with China when he declared that despite previously giving Huawei the greenlight to have a role in the UK's 5G network that the company would be banned.
In a major U-turn just six months after approving Huawei involvement in the development of the futuristic network, the prime minister slapped a ban on UK operators purchasing any of the company’s equipment after the end of this year and said any 5G kit already installed must be ripped out by 2027.
UK broadband operators were told to transition away from the company’s products within around two years.
Welcomed by some China hawks on the Tory backbenches and human rights groups, the Chinese government condemend the decisions.
China’s ambassador to London, Liu Xiaoming, denounced the decision as “disappointing and wrong”.
Mr Liu said: “It has become questionable whether the UK can provide an open, fair and non-discriminatory business environment for companies from other countries.”
16. Scotland and minister for the Union
Shortly after taking office, Mr Johnson named himself Minister for the Union, a supposed nod to his cast-iron commitment to keep the UK together.
Unfortunately, like so much with Mr Johnson, his rhetoric isn't matched by reality.
He has failed to connect with voters in Scotland - and it is perhaps not surprising when he reportedly believed devolution to have been "a disaster north of the border".
The comments were condemned by every major party in Scottish politics - including the Scottish Conservatives. Mr Johnson's abrasive Conservative has not had the desired effect of softening support for independence.
Support for Scotland going its own way hit its highest level in the last six years with recent polls showing a the majority in favour of leaving the Union.
Every opinion poll conducted this summer has showed more Scots in favour of leaving the UK than remaining.
17. The Test and Trace app had to be scrapped and then delayed for months
England's contact-tracing app was designed as a vital tool to tell if you've been exposed to someone with Covid-19.
But it went from an NHS app that'd be a "key part" of the system by mid-May - to an Apple- and Google-run software that'd be the "cherry on top" by winter.
On April 28, the PM's official spokesman said the app would be "a key part of the surveillance programme going forward".
But the date began to slip to the end of May, then the "coming weeks" after that, and then winter - as the ditched app only picked up contacts with iPhones 4% of the time.
By the time Boris Johnson said this on May 20, the government was already clear his pledge didn't include the app: "We have growing confidence that we will have a test, track and trace operation that will be world-beating, and yes, it will be in place by 1 June."
The new app entered service in September.
18. Contact tracing has failed to reach hundreds of thousands of people
Despite the £22bn budget for testing and tracing put together, there have been a string of failures with ‘NHS’ Test and Trace.
The contact tracing service was mostly outsourced to Serco and Sitel at an initial cost of £720million.
But at one point they were reaching jut 60% of contacts of people with coronavirus and telling them to self-isolate.
Councils’ local health teams got more involved and had greater success, despite dealing with supposedly harder-to-reach cases.
By June 17, Test and Trace call handlers were being used just 1% of the time.
Since Test and Trace launched in May, more than one million contacts of people with Covid-19 were not reached and told to self-isolate.
19. NHS cleaners' bereaved families can now stay in the UK
The government was shamed into a major U-turn in May allowing bereaved families of NHS cleaners who die of Covid to stay in the UK.
NHS porters, cleaners and social care staff were not included in a Home Office scheme granting families of health workers indefinite leave to remain in the UK if they die of coronavirus.
At the daily press briefing Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said the policy was under review. And shortly after the briefing ended, the Home Office announced the decision had been reversed.
The Home Office confirmed the families of contract staff working in NHS hospitals would also be eligible.
20. Brexit and the looming threat of no-deal
The Prime Minister might yet get a Brexit trade deal with the EU at the last moment.
But the 11th-hour wrangling is hardly the image he projected when he pledged an “oven-ready” Brexit deal last year.
The ‘oven-ready’ and ‘Get Brexit done’ catchphrases only covered leaving the EU - not agreeing a pact for what happens next.
And sure enough, talks have become stuck and are edging closer to a disastrous no-deal on January 1.
Having claimed last summer the odds of no-deal were a “million to one”, Mr Johnson now says it is “very, very likely”.
21. Breaking international law
The Prime Minister was condemned by every living ex-Prime Minister after he unveiled plans to break international law over Brexit.
Mr Johnson signed the Withdrawal Agreement with the EU after winning last December’s election - a 600-odd-page legal text.
Part of that agreement was a new system of customs checks and tariffs for some British goods being shipped to Northern Ireland.
The Withdrawal Agreement said a joint committee of UK and EU delegates would have the final say over these tariffs.
But the PM said Britain must have a veto, in a move his own ministers admitted broke international law in a “limited and specific way”.
The plans were first watered down, with MPs being given a vote, and then dropped when a deal on Northern Ireland was agreed.
22. Millions slipping through gaps in support
Boris Johnson’s government spent billions on saving millions of jobs with the furlough scheme, loads and support.
But that did not stop as many as 2.9million people failing to qualify for support, according to the National Audit Office.
That includes 1.1million people estimated as ineligible for furlough because HMRC had “limited data”.
And around 1.6million self-employed people did not qualify for grants. The Treasury insists 1.4million of them either weren’t majority self-employed or had trading profits over £50,000.
But 200,000 self-employed people were ineligible because they’d set up their business too recently to be counted.
23. Universal Credit cuts loom
When the pandemic hit, Chancellor Rishi Sunak increased Universal Credit by £20 a week.
The move was hailed by charities and campaigners as finally plugging many of the gaps in benefit support due to Tory austerity.
But the increase was only “temporary” for one year and despite the cut-off date of April 2021 drawing near, there’s not yet any extension.
Six million Universal Credit claimants may only find out in February or so whether they’re getting a cut of £85 a month.
As much as increasing UC was a good thing, charities warn millions will be plunged into poverty by the sudden shock if it’s cut off.
24. 2million missing from benefit rises in the pandemic
While Universal Credit rose by £20 a week in April, the benefits of around 2million people - mostly sick and disabled - rose by just £1.25.
These ‘legacy benefits’ are for people who haven’t yet moved onto Universal Credit, many of them the most vulnerable in society.
The government refused calls to raise their benefits but £20 a week in what campaigners branded a “two-tier” welfare state.
These benefits have been left out again from April 2021, with plans to raise them by just 0.5% (around 35p a week).
25. Denying millions of poor kids free school meals in the holidays
Perhaps the PM's biggest U-turn has come not at the hands of the Labour Party, or even from his own backbenchers, but from a Premier League footballer.
Millions of England's poorest children were, for the first time, able to claim free school meal vouchers over the summer holidays following demands from campaigners and 22-year-old footballer Marcus Rashford.
The Manchester United and England star captured hearts with a moving letter describing his own upbringing by a single mum - and urging to PM not to let kids go hungry.
Mr Rashford's demands had been ignored by No10, but with pressure building among parents and campaigners, Mr Johnson dramatically caved in early June.
Yet he then refused to help children in the October half-term - prompting private firms and councils to step into the breach.
Eventually a long-term was agreed, but only well after the half-term row.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/25-blunders-scandals-and-crises-of-boris-johnson-a-year-after-he-won-election/ar-BB1bRMTh?ocid=msedgntp
If you had even read the first sentence, you would have realised that it set out to assess the PMs performance in his first year in office.
I can see that it would have been difficult to write before the year had been completed.
Here is a tip for you.
When I look at the forum, I usually just look at the threads that are of interest me, and ignore the rest.
Where I click onto a thread that doesnt interest me by mistake, because the title doesnt make the content of the thread very clear, I just stop reading, and look at something else.
By doing this I never feel the need to post a silly insult about the thread content, embarrass myself, and show others that I havent really got anything much to say.
Nobody is forced to read any thread on the forum.
You would have to point me in the direction of an interesting thread you have posted, as I am unable to recall one.
I wait with interest.
You dont seem to have started a single thread on any topic.
On that basis, your opinion on anything is irrelevant to me.
It would seem rather foolish.
I expect you are a Blackadder fan.
I quite enjoy reading the threads, and anything I feel strongly enough to disagree with, or feel in the mood to debate, or have relevant alternatives to , I post.
@HAYSIE is doing a great job of keeping the forum going, thanks.
A German TV show has mocked Boris Johnson with a spoof trailer called “The Clown”.
Riffing on Netflix’s huge hit, The Crown, which dramatises the life of the Queen and the royal family, the fake trailer poked fun at the prime minister and his Brexit strategy.
It comes after a 2019 video of Johnson promising we won't still be talking about Brexit in 2020 went viral last week.
The clip, which lasts two and a half minutes, calls Johnson a “notorious buffoon”.
Instead of Netflix, The Clown is brought to viewers by “Brexnix”, the trailer announces.
A voiceover says: “From the people who brought you The Crown, the epic saga of the Queen… now comes the ridiculous story of this guy, a notorious buffoon at the head of a country whose inhabitants tumble down hills to catch cheese.
“It’s The Clown.”
The trailer says Johnson’s “funniest trick” is Brexit, and, over footage of the infamous EU referendum bus that falsely claimed the UK sent £350m a week to Europe, says: “He cons Brits into believing fake numbers”.
The trailer claims: “Mr Johnson has no idea of real policies and he knows nothing about EU Brexit regulations.”
It jokes that The Clown plays out over 23 seasons as “Brexit spirals into chaos”.
The voiceover says: “The clown gets tangled up in silly adventures.”
It then asks what the UK will look like after leaving the EU, showing footage from 2004 disaster movie The Day After Tomorrow.
Referring to Johnson, the trailer calls outgoing US president Donald Trump “his best friend from clown college”.
The trailer features footage from Johnson’s past mishaps, including knocking over a small boy while playing rugby during a trade visit to Japan.
Johnson and EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen have extended Brexit talks in an effort to secure a trade deal ahead of the end of the transition period on 31 December.
https://uk.yahoo.com/news/clown-german-comedy-tv-show-mocks-boris-johnson-spoof-trailer-netflix-145217653.html
The PM's aides have admitted Mr Johnson's locks have got 'out of control'
But stylists say it looks like a DIY trim and pondered if Carrie Symonds did it
Ricky Walters, founder of London's Salon64, said: '2020 has been a tough year for us all and Boris Johnson's haircut truly sums it all up'
Insider said any claims that Carrie has cut her fiance's hair are 'untrue b***ocks'
Speaking on a trip to wet and windy Manchester today the Prime Minister, whose hair still looked unbrushed, told reporters he 'does his best' with his shock of blonde hair.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9067773/I-brush-hair-Boris-Johnson-APOLOGISES-hair.html
Normally Tory-leaning media turned on Boris Johnson on Monday amid rising anger about the government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis, and the late decision to effectively cancel Christmas.
‘The weekend’s mother of all U-turns must prompt him and those around him to reject their approach to date.’
Here are some of the comments they made …
Daily Mail: ‘Does the prime minister have any idea what he’s doing?’
Mr Johnson’s previous message, ‘Have yourself a merry little Christmas’, has morphed into another popular song with a very different tone – ‘Lonely this Christmas’.
Carefully and lovingly laid plans for families to get together for the first time in months were dashed at a stroke. Overnight, the season of goodwill evaporated. And, after yet another screeching U-turn, the question on many lips is: does the prime minister have any idea what he’s doing or where he’s going? Is there a coherent Covid strategy?
Or is he all at sea – the captain of a rudderless ship being controlled by the currents rather than steering a steady course?
Instead of meekly buying into every scientific scare story, Mr Johnson must interrogate each one and come to measured conclusions based on a balance of risk. That is what political leadership is all about. Seize control of events or, sure as shooting, they will seize control of you.
Daily Telegraph leader: ‘This dismal pattern of promising one thing and delivering another …’
Tory MPs critical of the lockdown measures question whether this decision was deliberately delayed until the Commons rose for the recess on Friday, thereby avoiding a possible backbench revolt.
This is denied by ministers who say they were not fully alerted to the spread of the new variant of the virus until Friday night and action could no longer be put off. We concede that these are difficult times for the government but this dismal pattern of promising one thing and delivering another is hardly designed to reinforce public faith and trust in the way this crisis is being handled.
The Times: ‘The mother of all U-turns …’
I worked with Johnson for years. I don’t believe he sets out to be duplicitous or to mislead. He is just desperate to be liked, a trait which is desperately incompatible with leading a country through such a time.
The weekend’s mother of all U-turns must prompt him and those around him to reject their approach to date. In the days and weeks ahead, sober caution must win out over reckless optimism. Instead of cheery promises and cheerleading about Britain’s greatness we need the government to think pessimistically, act early and act decisively. For once, it must get ahead of events – on three fronts.
The Sun: ‘No doubt Boris Johnson has made a pig’s ear of things recently …’
There’s no doubt that Boris Johnson has made a pig’s ear of things recently. Hard-up families waking up in tier 4 this morning will long remember the way in which their festive reunions were cancelled at the 11th hour – after the cash had been spent.
But we applaud the PM for standing up to cabinet colleagues who pushed for even more ruinous restrictions. And it’s clear to all but the most fervent Tory-haters that he is at least acting in good faith: his agonised flip-flopping on Christmas is proof that the heartbreaking decision was not made lightly.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/captain-of-a-rudderless-ship-tory-media-turn-on-boris-johnson/ar-BB1c6BRZ?ocid=msedgntp
Crerar asked:
“Throughout this pandemic you have frequently overpromised and underdelivered, whether it’s ‘turning the tide in 12 weeks’, ‘a second lockdown being a disaster’ or ‘cancelling Christmas being inhumane’".
"It’s become a pattern that we’re increasingly familiar with. Why do you keep doing it? Do you recognise that it creates public confusion and, crucially, erodes public confidence?”
In reply, Johnson didn’t exactly address the question, which is understandable and instead went on to make another promise about life starting to return to normal by Easter. "I think you have to imagine a counterfactual world in which we’d kept the country in some kind of perpetual lockdown or kept kids out of school for the best part of a year. And that would have been really disastrous. I think it’s been very important to keep moving forward as far as we possibly could. I think that’s the right thing to do."
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/boris-johnson-left-red-faced-after-being-asked-why-he-keeps-over-promising-and-under-delivering/ar-BB1c8Jv3?ocid=msedgntp