Boris Johnson’s Conservatives’ party conference takes place at the weekend. In times of delivery bottlenecks, Johnson shouldn’t look forward to the gathering – but the Tories are celebrating him.
There has been a crisis in Great Britain for weeks. It is precisely in these difficult times that the Boris Johnson Conservatives’ party conference falls on the weekend. Motorists: inside have to grapple with massive difficulties at the gas stations. Many petrol pumps are not in use, and where there is still fuel, people often have to queue up in traffic jams that stretch for miles. The reason is a massive shortage of truck drivers: inside. This has already caused some shelves in supermarkets to be empty and could drive prices up for many products.
Boris Johnson goes underground
Prime Minister Johnson had gone into hiding for days, then downplayed the crisis. “We’re starting to see the first signs of improvement,” he said in a short clip and promised that the supply situation would be under control for Christmas.
But as if the shortages weren’t enough, consumers in the UK have to cope with a sharp rise in energy costs, which hits the country particularly hard because it has little gas. And if the inflation rate rises, interest rates could soon rise, which could get many homeowners into trouble.
In addition, the “Furlough Scheme”, the British version of short-time work benefits, expired at the end of September. The program had kept thousands of people in jobs that may no longer exist. All of this comes after Johnson’s unpopular decision to raise social security contributions, despite campaign promises to the contrary, in order to finance an urgently needed reform of long-term care. There is already talk of a looming “Cost of Living Crisis” and a “Winter of Discontent” (winter of discontent). It is feared that large numbers of people could slip into poverty.
Despite the crisis: Tories celebrate their prime minister
Even so, political scientist Anand Menon of King’s College London believes the Tories Johnson will celebrate “like a hero” at the four-day party conference in Manchester that begins this Sunday. “The Tory members love him and the Tory MPs also love him because he wins (elections),” Anand said in an interview with the German press agency. The fact that Johnson was very late in commenting on the fuel crisis met with occasional criticism, but Menon sees this as Johnson’s tendency to hide away when things get tough. Then others should answer.
Johnson had already got rid of some of these human protective shields before the party conference: In a cabinet reshuffle, he banished the former Foreign Minister Dominic Raab to the Ministry of Justice and threw out Minister of Education Gavin Williamson. Neither of them cut a good figure. Williamson was criticized in the pandemic for chaos in school leaving exams and the organization of teaching in the pandemic. Raab was reluctant to return from vacation when the militant Islamist Taliban took over the Afghan capital Kabul and British and other Western troops hastily left the country.
Party congress promises heated debate
There will certainly be “a lot of pretty tough debates” about economic decisions at the convention, Menon said. But he still does not believe that the prime minister has suffered any damage as a result. But he warns: “If things go really badly economically, and especially if there is a high inflation and unemployment rate, it will cause difficulties for the government.” In the long term, however, a negative economic forecast could even move Johnson to an early election, the scientist believes: “I think spring 2023 is a possibility.”
Florian Foos, who conducts research in the field of political behavior at the London School of Economics, also sees risks for Johnson in a weak economy. But he believes that a further intensification of the pandemic could influence the mood in the country to the detriment of the conservatives. As so often, Johnson put everything on one card with his radical opening strategy. Thanks to the successful vaccination campaign, many British people have since forgiven him for the mistakes he made at the beginning, “but if things go wrong again, things could soon look different,” said Foos.
See in the video: On Sunday, the British government of Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that it would issue 5,000 visas for foreign truck drivers until December 24 in view of ongoing supply shortages.
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