The Tories now see that although Johnson can win elections, he simply can’t govern
The Guardian columnist Martin Kettle’s article says the PM’s shambles of a speech might be a moment that “damningly defines a prime minister in the public mind” and it might be one they can bever shake off.
Boris Johnson approval ratings have plummeted and he has never been less popular during this premiership. Beyond the polls the clearest evidence things are not going well for the PM can be found at Westminster and in Whitehall.
From the U-turn on MPs’ outside earnings, the HS2 rail scandal and the launch of the social care cap – all three big issues have been bungled. “There is a lot of concern in the building … It’s just not working,” said a Downing Street source.
Sources say if the PM and his government are to survive “a winter dominated by the cost of living, Covid and the Channel migration crisis,” changes are required.
Good government requires strategy, rules, hard work and, perhaps above all, a team. It can be enforced by terror and force, or through trust and ethos. The former is thankfully not available to Johnson; the latter is something he does not do.
Britain’s embrace of “Johnsonism” is now confronted by “Johnsonism’s in-built unworkability in practise.”
The PM’s character means he will respond with denial and distractions, a recent example has been his unveiling of a new law to give automatic life sentences on killers of emergency service personnel, writes the paper. And the Channel crisis will “probably generate more” and “arguments with Europe will also be escalated.”
But the government’s need to make progress on delivery cannot be postponed forever.
Boris Johnson’s problem is that his preferred way of governing is on the extreme end of the spectrum of possibilities. Few of those he has appointed have lasted in the job long. Johnson’s way has been tested to the brink of destruction.
The article says the PM should’ve looked at and taken a lesson from Angela Merkel who is about to step down after 16 years as Germany’s chancellor. Merkel can credit her “long and remarkable reign” to her calm mastery and the system she built around her. She governed through “ a team of six highly trusted advisers and officials who offered solidity, strategic thinking, professionalism and complete discretion.”
They have no public profile and their loyalty and competence are legendary, writes the Guardian.
While Germany prepares to make a seamless transition to Olaf Scholz’s chancellorship, Britain faces a governmental emergency.
“No 10’s lack of a team, a structure and a shared ethos adds up to a humiliating verdict on this country’s politics. Solving the problem posed by the chaotic Johnson court is the priority of the day. The question is whether, in the light of the way that Johnson has governed since 2019, it is even remotely possible to solve.”
Read the full story, The Tories now see that although Johnson can win elections, he simply can’t govern, by Martin Kettle on The Guardian.
