British Prime Minister Johnson Recently, on the grounds that Omickron strain is "relatively mild" in terms of pathogenicity, he decided not to tighten epidemic prevention measures for the time being. The move has been questioned and criticized by British medical staff, scientists and opposition parties.
analysts believe that Johnson is currently plagued by scandals and his approval rating continues to decline. Tightening epidemic prevention measures at this time may further lower the support rating. With the superposition of many adverse factors, Johnson's next path to govern may face many variables.
epidemic prevention policy is questioned
Since the emergence of the Omickron strain of the mutated new coronavirus at the end of last year, the number of new confirmed cases in the UK has continued to soar in a single day, setting a record for the highest since the epidemic. Statistics released by the British government on the 8th showed that the cumulative number of deaths from COVID-19 in the UK has exceeded 150,000, making it the seventh country with a cumulative number of deaths from COVID-19 in the United States, Brazil, India, Russia, Mexico, and Peru. The latest survey data released by the UK National Statistics Office on the 12th estimated that in the first week of the new year, more than 4.3 million people in the country were infected with the new coronavirus , higher than 3.7 million in the previous week, setting a new record.
On January 8, people wore masks to shop in a market in London, England. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Ying
The epidemic has had a serious impact on the UK's health system and the medical system is overwhelmed. The British government has to adjust its COVID-19 testing policy, stipulating that from the 11th, if people in England use rapid testing to test positive for COVID-19, they will no longer need to do nucleic acid test to confirm; as the London Emergency Center faces "abnormal pressure", the National Health Agency of England wrote to general practitioner , urging them to call ambulances as little as possible when receiving treatment; many hospitals in Manchester have announced the postponement of some non-emergency surgeries and appointments...
htmlOn January 4, Johnson delivered a speech saying that the UK "has a chance to survive this wave of Omickron without re-blocking the country." This means that the UK will continue to implement the "Response to the New Coronavirus: Autumn and Winter Plan" B launched by the Johnson administration last month. The plan requires people to wear masks in indoor public places, present vaccination certificates or negative nucleic acid test results when entering nightclubs, and work from home if possible.But in recent days, British medical staff and scientists have been urging the British government to implement stricter restrictions, believing that the challenges facing the national health service system are far more serious than Johnson said.
National Health System CEO Taylor said Johnson tried to assure the public that the national health service system would not be overwhelmed, but this was inconsistent with the real situation across the country. "In view of the rapid changes in the epidemic prevention situation every day, we urge the government not to be blindly optimistic."
The British Medical Association urged the Johnson government to implement new mandatory epidemic prevention measures to relieve stress. The association's board chairman NagPaul said: "There are thousands of new patients every day, but the staff of the medical service system are constantly reducing staff, which fully demonstrates that the system is currently overwhelmed. It is necessary to "pass through this round of epidemic safely" without providing any help, which will make thousands of patients endure avoidable pain in the next few weeks."
scandals frequently occur and many parties are dissatisfied with
analysts believe that Johnson's recent scandals have frequently occurred, public opinion support rates have declined, and control over the political situation has weakened, and it is difficult to launch a new compulsory epidemic prevention plan.
British media recently exposed many details of the British Prime Minister's residence illegally held parties, chatting and drinking during the "lockdown" period in London on May 20, 2020, which caused an uproar in public opinion. Johnson admitted to attending the party and made a "sincere" apology for it, but the apology failed to calm the public's anger. British media also revealed that Christmas party was suspected to be held in the Prime Minister's Office in December 2020.
This is a live broadcast footage of Johnson being questioned in the lower house of the British Parliament on January 12 in London, England.Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Ying
In October last year, the Ethics Standards Committee of the Lower House of Parliament ruled that Conservative MP Patterson violated the "part-time Regulations" of MPs and was suspected of paid lobbying, but Johnson repeatedly "protected his shortcomings" to excuse Patterson, which aroused strong dissatisfaction inside and outside the party. In the subsequent vote of the lower house of parliament, about 100 Conservative MPs voted against the Johnson government's epidemic prevention plan B, forcing the Johnson government to rely on the support of the opposition Labor Party to pass the plan; in the North Shropshire MP by-election held a few days later, the Conservative Party lost its exclusive seat for many years, and the dissatisfaction with Johnson inside and outside the party became increasingly high; then, Johnson's allies and Secretary of State Frost, who was responsible for British-EU economic and trade cooperation after Brexit, suddenly announced his resignation and gave Johnson a "hard blow". The negative public opinion of
, coupled with the unsatisfactory performance of the Johnson government in solving issues such as energy and taxation, led to a sharp drop in Johnson's personal support rate, which caused the Conservative Party's public support rate to continue to decline. According to the " Times " report on the 12th, the latest poll showed that the public opinion support rate of the Conservative Party in has lagged behind the main opposition Labor Party by 10 percentage points, hitting a new low in 8 years. 60% of respondents believe that Johnson should resign.
Many people in the UK call on the police to investigate Johnson's illegal attendance at the party. If the scandal continues to ferment, Johnson himself and the Conservative Party will face tremendous pressure.
The road to rule may encounter variables
At present, there have been voices within the British Conservative Party asking Johnson to step down early to avoid dragging down the Conservative Party's local parliamentary election situation in May this year. In addition, some Conservative MPs submitted a distrust of Johnson to Brady, chairman of the Party’s Committee of Ordinary Congressmen (“1922 Committee”).
On January 12, British Prime Minister Johnson left the Prime Minister's Office at 10 Downing Street, London for the Lower House of Parliament. Xinhua News Agency (photo by Tim Ireland)
According to British media reports, some Conservative MPs privately stated that Johnson has become a political burden for the party, and it is only a matter of time to challenge him and replace it. But most Conservative MPs believe that it is not a good time to challenge Johnson, because even if you win in the end, you need to face how to deal with the epidemic crisis.
The local parliamentary elections to be held in the UK in May this year are the weather vane to test the British political situation and judge changes in public opinion, and the importance is self-evident. If Johnson cannot prevent the scandal from fermenting in time before this, or the UK cannot "safely" this round of epidemic as he said, it is not ruled out that British public opinion will again experience negative fluctuations, and continue to lower the public opinion support rate of the Conservative Party.
Due to concerns about local council elections and future election results, it is not ruled out that more Conservative MPs will send letters to Brady, demanding a vote of distrust in Johnson. According to regulations, if more than 15% of the members of the lower house of parliament in the Conservative Party send a letter to the "1922 Committee", a vote of distrust of confidence in the Prime Minister can be held. If the Prime Minister fails to obtain more than half of the votes of confidence in the party’s distrust vote, he should resign and the new party leader shall be elected by the party.
Johnson still has the opportunity to reverse the unfavorable situation in the next 3 to 4 months and turn the risk into a safe situation. However, as British media reveal more and more details about the Prime Minister and his people around him holding parties in violation of epidemic prevention regulations, there is not much time left for Johnson. As his loyal fan and executive member of the 1922 Committee, Vigs, said, Johnson must immediately demonstrate strong leadership and no longer be as indecisive as he did in the past few weeks. (Reporters: Tian Dongdong, Guo Shuang)
Source: Xinhua News Agency
