U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is known as a comeback kid in Britain's rough-and-tumble politics, but he faces an entirely new test in at least two major crises hitting his premiership.
The rise of the omicron variant, renewed debate over lockdowns and vaccine passports, and fresh revelations on a private Christmas party his team attended while the U.K. was in lockdown last year have caused uproar within his party and across the U.K., The Guardian reported.
The headwinds have caused a stir, and according Politico, while Johnson has faced many challenges before, "it's hard to recall a tougher time than this."
Johnson faces a blitz of crises across multiple fronts. Fears of a "tidal wave" of omicron cases, CNBC reported, has led to the country doubling down on a vaccine booster campaign, amid new findings from the University of Oxford that omicron can infect the fully vaccinated. Fresh fears of omicron led Prime Minister Johnson to address the nation Dec. 12, calling for a new push to get people vaccinated and declaring "the country now faces an emergency in our battle with the new variant."
The rise in omicron cases has led Johnson's government to propose and pass new measures Tuesday in Parliament, including making face masks required indoors, mandatory vaccinations for National Health Service (NHS) workers, and expanded rules on NHS COVID Passes, which will now be made mandatory to enter larger venues.
Despite significant infighting within the ruling Conservative Party, Johnson's new rules, dubbed Plan B by his administration, passed the House of Commons on Tuesday. The rebel Conservatives who opposed Johnson's new restrictions are "incensed" by the plan, according to The Guardian, with MP for Wycombe, Steve Baker, saying he is concerned about "ministers creating a miserable dystopia" under the new restrictions.
Rebellious conservatives are not Prime Minister Johnson's only critics. Amid fresh revelations that top Johnson aides and the Prime Minister himself attended a 2020 Christmas party at his residence during lockdown, Johnson has been accused of "presiding over a culture of disregard for the (COVID) rules" by the opposition Labour Party.
The scandal has been added to by the release of a video from Dec. 22, 2020, depicting former Downing Street Press Secretary Allegra Stratton joking about the Downing Street Christmas party, which was "attended by several dozen" people, the BBC reported. The revelations have left families who lost loved ones "sickened," according to the BBC.
The center left Liberal Democrat Party is also "furious" with Johnson, saying in a Dec. 7 statement: "Whilst millions canceled plans and had to be alone at Christmas, unable to celebrate, or worse unable to say goodbye to a dying loved one – the Prime Minister was breaking his own rules to allow a boozy party in No. 10. The Prime Minister must fess up and apologize both to the nation and the bereaved families still mourning loved ones they lost."
Boris Johnson is under fire from all sides, as "an undisclosed group of rebel Tory deputies have reportedly submitted letters calling for a leadership contest," according to Foreign Policy Magazine.
Neal Lawson, director of Compass, a progressive think tank, is not optimistic on the chances of removal, saying, "There is no broad, public removal mechanism to remove the Prime Minister. There's no impeachment process here in the U.K. Boris can just continue on, and the only way he can be removed is through a vote of no confidence."
It remains to be seen whether Prime Minister Boris Johnson can hang onto power, or succumb to the pressures facing his premiership.
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