Xmas, lies and videotape: Is it curtains for Boris?

Xmas, lies and videotape: Is it curtains for Boris?

LONDON: At the British general election in December 2019, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson campaigned on a pledge to “Get Brexit Done”-and won by a landslide. But just two years on, Johnson’s once seemingly unassailable position is looking shaky after a series of scandals have left his credibility in tatters. In opinion polls and even among members of his ruling Conservative party, there is open talk that he should quit-or be forced out by an internal vote of no confidence. “So far he’s been Teflon. Virtually nothing has touched him,” Robin Pettitt, a specialist in British politics, told AFP. But he said a succession of scandals and sleaze allegations “adds up over time”.

“There’s been so many of them that eventually it’s going to overflow,” he added. There has been mounting public anger at reports that Johnson’s staff broke coronavirus rules last year by holding a Christmas party in Downing Street at a time when the public were told to cancel their festive plans. Johnson’s repeated denials of wrongdoing, however, have failed to convince, after video footage emerged of his staff apparently joking that they knew it was a breach. The situation is “blatant”, said Pettitt. “It’s so obviously wrong for