LONDON | Lift restrictions against COVID-19, use the army to block migrants, cut off supplies to the BBC … To forget the scandals and save his job, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is preparing, according to the media , a series of seductive shock announcements for his electorate.
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Caught in a whirlwind of revelations about parties organized in Downing Street while the United Kingdom lived under strict health constraints, the conservative leader is currently going through his worst crisis since his spectacular accession to power in the summer of 2019. They add to an already long list of accusations of corruption and patronage.
His mea culpa in Parliament, where he acknowledged his presence at one of these parties in May 2020 while claiming to have thought it was a working meeting, was not enough. Calls for his resignation have multiplied, even within his majority.
From there to admit defeat, despite disastrous polls, there is however a step that Boris Johnson, known for his patter, his blunders and antics, is not ready to cross.
“If there is one thing in which (he) has excelled throughout his political career, it is essentially survival,” dissects Robin Pettitt, a specialist in British politics, interviewed by AFP. “He should be finished, but he’s not a normal politician.”
“Bone to Bite”
According to the media, the seething leader with the mayonnaise-yellow hair plans to launch the counter-attack with a battery of populist-sounding ads gathered under the code name “Operation Red Meat”.
He, who has made the fight against immigration his hobbyhorse in the wake of Brexit, thinks of using the Royal Navy to stop the flow of migrants trying to reach England illegally by crossing the Channel. The latter would be sent to countries such as Rwanda and Ghana to see their case processed, writes the Times.
Another subject which arouses an outcry, even among celebrities such as actor Hugh Grant who fear for the survival of the BBC, the freezing then the abolition in 2027 of the fee financing the activity of this public audiovisual group, regularly targeted by those in power who accuse him of bias. In the midst of galloping inflation, this would make it possible to pass a controversial increase in social security contributions.
As for the restrictions against the coronavirus still in place such as teleworking and wearing a mask indoors, considered to be draconian by part of his camp, they would be lifted on January 26.
“Save the Big Dog”
“If the deputies obtained a lot of measures which they claim (…) they could still maintain (Boris Johnson) in power”, analyzes Robin Pettitt, at least until the next big test of the local elections at the beginning of May.
A simple smokescreen? If he fails to implement these measures, “this is where the project could fail,” he warns.
Six Tory deputies admitted to having introduced letters of defiance, but they would be about thirty to have done so. 54 are needed to dislodge it.
Boris Johnson has so far managed to temporize by referring, like his ministers, to the forthcoming conclusions of the investigation into these festive events by a senior official, Sue Gray, known for her integrity.
To ease the pressure on the Prime Minister, a flock of aides would be asked to come out the door in another operation dubbed ‘Save Big Dog’, including his secretary who originally the sending of a hundred invitations for the party of May 2020 and that he would have nicknamed his “loyal labrador”, according to the Sunday Times.
His supporters were also reportedly called upon to praise his achievements, including the implementation of Brexit and the mass vaccination campaign against the coronavirus. “We are all human, we make mistakes,” Education Minister Nadhim Zahawi told Times Radio. But on major issues, “he made the right decisions,” he added.
“All of that is in the past,” Robin Pettitt puts it into perspective, and unless there are further accomplishments, “the credit for past successes will begin to fade.”