What is on Boris Johnson’s lengthy wish list this Christmas?
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It is normal at this time of year to ask people what they wish for Christmas. For myself, not that anyone cares, I would wish, like many, to be able to forget the past two years of COVID-19 restrictions, to be able to travel and meet loved ones freely again, and for the dream that technology alone could offer us all carbon-neutral air travel and less-polluting human habits.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s first wish might be to liberate us from the COVID-19 nightmare, which has been a headache for his premiership — but also, if I want to be cynical, a distraction from the failures of his administration and its lack of direction during the past two years, during which it has jumped from one crisis to another, most of them of its own making.
If I were Johnson, I would wish that the recent resignation of Brexit minister Lord Frost — a long time friend — had not happened. If it was inevitable, though, then maybe it could have come without the embarrassingly clear indication that this Conservative government has deviated from its vision and mission.
Frost’s resignation letter highlighted his “concerns about the current direction of travel.” He reminded Johnson of the need “to move as fast as possible to a lightly regulated, low tax, entrepreneurial economy,” and “the need to learn to live with COVID.” He praised the prime minister for the “total opening up of the country” in July, and said he hoped Johnson would “not to be tempted by the kind of coercive measures we have seen elsewhere” to tackle the pandemic.
Johnson’s Christmas wish list could be a long one. He might wish to overturn the embarrassing by-election defeat last week in Shropshire when, on his watch, the Conservatives lost a seat they had held for almost 200 years.
He might wish that reports of a lockdown-busting party at No.10 Downing Street last Christmas were just a bad dream and did not make its seem like those involved think they are above the law. One set of rules for the general public and another for politicians is a trait that sticks to Conservative politicians in the UK, apparently.
The prime minister’s moment of reckoning is drawing near. He is no longer able to use his populism to boost his and his party’s popularity while staying true to a Conservative core ideology
Mohamed Chebaro
He might wish that his party’s 100 rebel MPs would come to their senses and accept the fact that public health and the functioning of overwhelmed healthcare institutions necessitate curbs on gatherings this Christmas, too.
He might wish that his popularity will improve in the new year, despite the lingering uncertainty about Brexit and the Northern Ireland protocol governing the border with Ireland, the poor overall growth prospects of the British economy, and inflation rates that have gone through the roof.
Above all, perhaps, he might wish that the discontent across the UK will be blown away by the New Year’s Eve firework displays, and that people in the north will stop being angry that promises of “leveling up,” and the many pledges of regeneration projects, remain more rhetorical boosterism than reality.
He might hope that voters will stop complaining about cost-of-living increases, rising interest rates, higher taxes and the prospect of poor conditions in retirement, including the potential for some to lose their hard-earned properties to fund care-home fees.
He might wish that people will forget that he promised them safety, yet Britain still has an overstretched police force and a healthcare system that is struggling. There is also disruption to the supply of skilled and unskilled labor, leaving farmers desperate for laborers to harvest their crops and a shortage of butchers to work in abattoirs.
This at a time when a new post-Brexit free-trade deal will start dumping cheap Australian beef onto the UK market that might kill what is left of the British farming industry, all in the name of “taking back control” and freeing the country from EU constraints so that it could project the image of a “global Britain” on the international stage. This was supposed to allow Johnson to usher in a green transformation and enhance state organization — Johnson referenced Kermit the frog in connection with the former, and then praised children’s cartoon character Peppa Pig in a speech to leading industry figures — and maybe at last find a solution to the ongoing issue of migrants crossing the channel to take over the UK jobs and be a burden on the economy.
The above is a lengthy list of what clearly is at stake for the UK. One might want to believe in miracles at Christmas and no one is more in need of one than the prime minister. He is clearly upsetting the electorate across the country. Meanwhile his MPs are deserting him and seem, by the admission of one key ally, to be deviating from the “Singapore on Thames” master plan for a post-Brexit, economic superpower Britain that, freed from the shackles of EU regulations, is nimble and open to deal with the devil.
The problem is one cannot do that and still expect the vast majority of the electorate to remain on board. This applies to both “remain” and “leave” voters.
The prime minister’s moment of reckoning is drawing near. He is no longer able to use his populism to boost his and his party’s popularity while staying true to a Conservative core ideology, as proposed by Lord Frost, that advocates a commitment to low taxation, a light touch by the state, proportionate regulation, free trade, competition and the concept of personal freedom and responsibility, while he also raises taxes to spend on the NHS, schools and policing.
The Conservative-leaning Daily Telegraph newspaper recently published a headline, quoting Lord Frost, that read: “Cut taxes or Brexit will fail.” Maybe the problem that is interfering with the grand plans of Boris Johnson and his party this Christmas is simply too many wishes.
• Mohamed Chebaro is a British-Lebanese journalist with more than 25 years’ experience covering war, terrorism, defense, current affairs and diplomacy. He is also a media consultant and trainer.
