A difficult Christmas for Boris

The British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has been cornered into not letting Covid restrictions spoil another Christmas for at least the people of England and Wales. With only four ministers in favour of listening to the scientists to play party pooper lest the new coronavirus mutant, Omicron, overwhelm the NHS with hospitalisations and deaths, the PM has retreated strategically on the issue. Further north, Nicola Sturgeon has told her Scottish people to take common sense precautions while celebrating.

The British PM is not quite on solid ground in wishing to thrust more restrictions on his people after the 2020 Christmas proved a dampener. But, a leak of pictures of him, his wife and young daughter seen tucking into cheese and wine at a 10 Downing Street office party has placed the British PM in a corner. Many are rebelling against restrictions on their freedoms in the name of saving them from the runaway mutant that has seen omicron cases rise in the UK from 6,777 to 41,250 in a day with 12 deaths and 104 needing to go to hospital,

The Christmas conundrum comes at a particularly difficult time for Boris as his Brexit minister David Frost resigned over Covid restrictions and then he saw his Tory party take a drubbing in the byelection to the North Shropshire seat, which the party had held for close to 200 years. Fears are rising over whether the fiercely independent Johnson, who won a general election on Brexit as plank, has become an electoral liability for the Conservatives now.

The word in Johnson’s party is his actions are determined by his personal predilections. Critics are asking whether their elected leader is more interested in his personal popularity, which he promotes with weird jocularity involving the anthropomorphic Peppa Pig than in exercising the power of his office. The mood of the people after an uncertain Christmas 2021 will determine whether Boris remains ensconced or loses out to Omicron negativity.