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What will it take to bring him down? For weeks, keen watchers of Boris Johnson’s premiership have been asking this question.
On Monday, a much-anticipated report by a senior civil servant into a series of lockdown-violating gatherings held at Downing Street in 2020 and 2021, some of which was allegedly attended by Johnson himself, delivered a verdict so damning than any other national leader would have been expected to resign. Sue Gray ruled that there were “failures of leadership and judgment,” as well as a “severe failure” to uphold the standards required of government officials.
Gray’s testimony was significant enough that the Metropolitan Police in London initiated an inquiry. Johnson might even be questioned about reports that Downing Street workers attended raucous celebrations unrelated to their business, while residents diligently followed the rules and bid farewell to terminally sick loved ones through Zoom.
Following the publishing of the report, Johnson chose to respond to criticism by falsely accusing opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer, a former top prosecutor for England, of “failing to prosecute” a renowned British pedophile, Jimmy Savile. The allegation, which is popular among right-wing conspiracy theorists, has been refuted several times (a decision not to prosecute Savile was taken by a regional division of the prosecution service).
Johnson’s inability to completely retract it drove his policy chief, a longtime ally and confidante, to resign in displeasure on Thursday evening, making a stinging statement that echoed across UK government circles.
Four more senior officials quit in the hours that followed, each for a different reason, but it created the image that Downing Street was in shambles.
Johnson is still alive and well at the time of publishing. And many people have predicted his doom prematurely in the past. But it’s possible that Johnson’s time in Downing Street is coming to an end.
Johnson’s personal approval ratings and his Conservative party’s poll ratings have been slowly declining since the so-called Partygate affair erupted last year, and he was formerly regarded as a politician with a near-mythical capacity to win over opponents with natural charm. No one in Johnson’s circle or his party is pretending that the situation isn’t dire, if not terminal.
Nonetheless, the unfortunate fact for the many Conservatives who want Johnson gone is that they are unsure if they are powerful enough to depose him. And it is possible that this is what keeps Johnson in office despite everything.
