press review
Status: 07/07/2022 09:20 a.m
The dozens of ministerial resignations in the British government are a big topic in the German daily newspapers. Prime Minister Johnson’s fate seems sealed, some say. Others write that he can pull his head out of the noose again.
the “Southgerman newspaper” writes: “Johnson’s biggest problem is Johnson – the character, the half-wit, the gambler. The prime minister’s cocky claim to leadership, his monopolizing personality in the working-class milieu as well as in the conservative circles of the elite stands in stark contrast to his political achievements and his character ability. Johnson is not Churchill, no matter how often he imitates him.”
the “Frankfurter Rundschau” notes: “They’re trying to save their own skin. They’re trying to save what can be saved. In order to understand the current departures from Boris Johnson’s cabinet, in other words: Nobody is leaving because of the allegedly unbearable accumulation of scandals, no matter how studiously indignantly proclaimed. The main trait of the British Conservatives of the 21st century? Self-preservation: make way for me, women and children last.”
“His character – the decisive factor”
Of the “Cicero” emphasizes: “The lack of love of truth has long since become the prime minister’s greatest weakness. His character was the decisive factor in Boris Johnson’s rise and fall. Now Johnson falls on his head that as prime minister he made far too big and far too many promises : The impoverished Labor voters in the North and the well-to-do Conservatives in the South cannot be satisfied at the same time in the long term: distributing money and lowering taxes at the same time, in the middle of an economic crisis, that is not sustainable.”
the “Hessian Lower Saxony General” from Kassel emphasizes: “One does not know what should surprise us more: the patience of the British, the tolerance of their own Tory party or Johnson’s perseverance. But even the most power-loving patience is finite: this time a storm is growing in your own party that could sweep him out of Downing Street.”
“Johnson’s fate seems sealed”
the “people’s voice” from Magdeburg comments: “Boris Johnson has proved many times with virtuosity that he is a trickster. Resigning because of political allegations is out of the question for him. To what extent his Tories in the British House of Commons support him is also hardly apparent to outsiders. There is much to suggest that that ‘tricky Boris’ pulls his head out of the noose again. The trickster can sit it out for the time being. That’s politics.”
the “Landshut Newspaper” sees it differently: “Johnson’s fate seems sealed. Because it will be impossible for him to govern without any support and surrounded by opponents in the party. The political storm against him is now being led by his former ministers, conservative politicians with influence, seated between party rebels in the back benches in Parliament on Wednesday. Johnson’s time is up – maybe not today, but soon.”
Source: Deutschlandfunk