In the first few months of the pandemic, it was often said that its demands for sober governance ran counter to the prime minister's abilities.

The Corona crisis is now considered Boris Johnson's political straw.

This is not only due to the fact that he achieved success in the field of epidemic policy, especially with his vaccination campaign, but above all because he is able to free himself again and again from the political quagmire with his dramatic - and always dramatically staged - crisis management.

Jochen Buchsteiner

Political correspondent in London.

  • Follow I follow

On Sunday he used a televised address and on Monday an interview in a hospital to call on his compatriots for immediate vaccination and to announce new measures in the fight against the Omikron variant.

His latest "emergency campaign" to speed up the booster process got off to a rough start on Monday, with queues in front of the vaccination stations, a collapsed health service website and a bottleneck for rapid tests.

But the focus of the population is realigned: Saving Christmas with booster vaccinations for all adults.

Miscalculations, carelessness, crossing boundaries

Last week, Johnson was in what was probably the worst crisis of his two-and-a-half-year term in office. Miscalculations, carelessness and overstepping boundaries had dragged him down from the survey high in September into the basement. For the first time, it was not just the practiced critics who attacked him, but rather well-balanced journalists and party friends. In the population, sympathy continued to decline. A survey saw the Labor Party with its hitherto hapless chairman Keir Starmer even eight percentage points ahead.

Johnson's crisis began with an attempt to save a fellow party member from being suspended from the House of Commons by changing the law. It was only after a storm of protest that Johnson realized that he had misjudged the mood and turned to it. Owen Paterson, who abused his parliamentary mandate for paid lobbying work, has since resigned. The by-election, which will be held on Thursday in his formerly “safe” constituency, now threatens to become a protest election against Johnson.

"Partygate" followed the Paterson affair. After Johnson initially denied that Christmas parties had taken place at his official residence last December (against lockdown rules), he eventually fled into an internal investigation. The mockery of Johnson having in-house investigations into what happened under his roof knows no bounds. At least three other questionable gatherings in the government district have since come to light.

In the midst of the defensive battle against the party researchers, Johnson was caught up with an affair that was believed to have been settled. The embarrassing questions about the renovation of his official apartment appeared to have been resolved after his "ethics advisor", the respected Christopher Geidt, acquitted him of a violation of the Ministerial Code after an investigation. But then an election commission investigation uncovered a text message from Johnson contradicting his statements. He had asked a party donor via Whatsapp in October last year for more money for the renovation. However, Johnson had assured Geidt that he had not known anything about the financial side of the renovation until February of this year. Newspapers quoted Geidt with a sigh that he was "deeply unhappy" about it,possibly having been lied to by Johnson.

Inferences about Johnson's character

Not only government critics recognize a pattern in Johnson's missteps that allows conclusions to be drawn about his character.

Conservative commentators recalled that Johnson became Prime Minister not because he was popular or even considered suitable in his party, but because he was trusted to end the bleak May era and win elections.

Allister Heath, editor-in-chief of the Tory-affiliated Sunday Telegraph, lamented a “toxic combination” in Downing Street, which consists of “incompetence and moral failure”.

A surprising number agree that these deficits will bring Johnson down - but also that this is to be expected later rather than earlier.

Johnson not only has stamina, but also has a handsome majority in the House of Commons. Even the sharpest critics in their own ranks see no one who could hold the party together, let alone lead to a new absolute majority in elections. In the background, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak and Foreign Minister Liz Truss are supposed to sound out their opportunities, but their popularity at the grassroots level has not yet translated into mass enthusiasm.

This Tuesday, Johnson faces a hidden vote of no confidence.

About 70 Tories want to vote in the lower house against his "Plan B", with which the new virus variant is to be countered.

The critics are particularly struck by the (narrowly limited) introduction of vaccination certificates and see the country on the way to authoritarianism.

Johnson would not have his own majority if the Labor Party had not agreed to support the measures.

Starmer senses an opportunity to stand out from Johnson as a "responsible politician" by "putting the interests of the country above those of the party".