Bounceback Boris must regain our trust
PERHAPS the attribute that goes furthest to explaining Boris Johnson’s remarkable political success is his near-preternatural ability to rebound from setbacks.
Yes, the public warm to his swashbuckling optimism, energy and elan. They are drawn to his likeability and common touch.
And, unlike many in Westminster, he actually gets things done. The vanquishing of Jeremy Corbyn and the Covid vaccine are testament to that.
But his capacity to weather storms that would wreck supposedly lesser politicians is most striking.
While not condoning the gaffes and transgressions in his public and private lives, voters seem to have factored them in.
Nowhere is this paradox more unmistakeably illustrated than in our poll.
On one hand, it makes extremely sobering reading for the Prime Minister.
In the wake of his grubby handling of the Owen Paterson debacle, the public thinks Mr Johnson leads the sleaziest British government in five decades.
He even pips Tony Blair – himself never far away from dishonour – to that ignominious post. But on the other hand, there is indisputable evidence of his astonishing resilience.
Even tainted by the fallout from this week’s shameful episode, Boris is way ahead of Sir Keir Starmer in the ratings war for the best leader. Moreover, the Conservatives continue to be seen as more competent and united than Labour.
For Sir Keir, whose party has been captured by unappeasable Remainers, the juvenile ‘woke’ and frothing hard-Left zealots who would struggle to run a bath properly – let alone a country – these figures are catastrophic. Even so, Mr Johnson must not rest on his laurels. Rather, our survey should set alarm bells ringing in No10.
That is because public trust is a fragile commodity which is hard to build, but easy to lose. When it begins to seep away, it can be impossible to regain.
And this week has undoubtedly damaged the PM’s reputation and authority. He made a catastrophic misjudgment in ordering Tory MPs to ram through deranged plans to tear up Parliament’s anti-sleaze rules to get Mr Paterson, who improperly lobbied on behalf of two firms who paid him handsome sums, out of trouble.
The public know cronyism when they see it – and they don’t like it one little bit.
As our survey shows, they want MPs banned from lucrative second jobs. Justifiably, they believe elected representatives should be loyal to constituents who put votes in their ballot boxes, not corporations who shovel fortunes into their bank accounts.
We know Mr Johnson routinely shrugs his shoulders at assaults on democratic standards, from Dominic Cummings’s lockdown trip to Barnard Castle to Priti Patel’s alleged bullying of civil servants.
Indeed, he faces his own sleaze probes over ‘Wallpapergate’ and his free Marbella holiday. But this drip-drip of self-inflicted scandal diverts him from frying bigger fish.
The post-Covid recovery is being hampered by the sluggish rollout of boosters. Families are feeling the pinch as the cost of living rockets. Rising interest rates will hammer homeowners.
No one will be happy when the NHS tax shrinks pay packets. And that’s before ministers turn to the social care crisis, levelling up, and Channel migrants.
Four crunch by-elections are hurtling down the tracks – litmus tests of Mr Johnson’s competence. If his Government is perceived as tin-eared, arrogant, selfserving and not 100 per cent focused on people’s real-life concerns, the Conservatives could be severely punished.
For Boris, this week’s unedifying events must be a watershed moment. He has to stay on course, stay out of trouble, stay honest, and stay Tory. It’s not complicated.