Johnson has been in office for two years: none of this can harm him

Boris Johnson has been British Prime Minister for two years. He is repeatedly accused of deceptions and incompetence. But in the regional elections, his conservatives shone despite everything.

Boris Johnson has many critics. And many did not even trust him to hold out for so long. Dominic Cummings is one of them. The strategist who led the “Leave” campaign for the Brexit referendum and who later became his closest advisor.

Attack by the ex-advisor

Last week, in a BBC interview, Cummings had once again made it clear what he thought when Johnson took office. In some areas he, Boris Johnson, had skills, in others he was a hopeless case.

Above all, Cummings accuses Johnson of doing everything wrong at the beginning of the Corona crisis. Johnson compared Corona with swine flu and rejected a lockdown because only people over 80 would die anyway.

Johnson and Cummings broke up in an argument, so the ex-agent may have an interest in making his ex-boss look bad. But there is no denial for the statement. Great Britain later implemented a strict lockdown, but there had already been many deaths.

Johnson likes to point out the vaccination campaign

When the AstraZeneca vaccine was available relatively soon, the government started a large vaccination program – with success. And there is no debate in the House of Commons in which Johnson does not underline this success. For example, two weeks ago when opposition leader Keir Starmer warned of chaos as a result of the easing and up to 100,000 infections a day. Thanks to the vaccinations, the death rate would be only a third of the previous values, replied Johnson. And this is thanks to the government’s rapid vaccination program.

Meanwhile, the government has another problem: So many people in the UK are warned by the Covid app and have to be in isolation that there are bottlenecks at companies and in supermarkets, for example.

Muddling through instead of strategy

Muddle through rather than govern with a recognizable strategy – this is also clear with Brexit. The UK government has agreed clear rules with the EU on trade with Northern Ireland after the UK leaves the European Union. But because this repeatedly causes domestic political problems, Johnson would like to dissolve the agreement.

And the question remains open: Did he not know what he was getting into, or was he betting that his position in day-to-day trading would practically prevail against the rigid EU rules?

Expensive wallpaper and an election victory

Affairs such as the expensive renovation of his official residence have passed Johnson by without a trace. The press reports about “Wallpapergate”, the affair of wallpaper rolls that are said to have cost 800 pounds each. And the £ 30,000 he had for the renovation was nowhere near enough: Johnson is said to have had donors.

The government is pressuring the BBC, and judges are intimidated. But all of this passes Johnson by without a trace. In the regional and local elections in May, the Conservatives in Wales, Scotland and England had an excellent result and were able to win a constituency in which a member of the lower house had to be re-elected, who had previously gone to Labor. For Johnson, these elections confirmed his policies.