The commitment of Boris Johnson in controlling until the end the tempo for eelect who will succeed him at the head of the Conservative Party and the Government threatens to open a crisis within the crisis: the division in the Tory ranks between those who want the deadlines to be shortened as much as possible and those who maintain that time must be given to time to allow the largest possible number of candidates to lead the party. Several of the newly appointed ministers to complete the transition government until the fall relief are counted among the defenders of a long transition; The six or seven names that have been considered since Thursday as possible successors to Johnson are pressing for the process to be as short as possible. Between them are the majority of the media, the economic and social actors and the Labor Party, who demand that Johnson vacate 10 Downing Street sooner rather than later.
The truth is that there is no point in delaying the inevitable when forecasts around the holidays require the help of a strong government, freed from the mortgage of the scandals that have marred Johnson’s mandate. Not only because the war in Ukraine threatens to weigh down all the growth forecasts made at the beginning of the year, when it was believed that 2022 was going to be the year of the great recovery, but also because the United Kingdom must face specific problems, a result of Brexit. Among them the complex adaptation of its relations with the European Union, including Northern Ireland’s link to the Twenty Seven, agreed in his day by Johnson and that he later corrected on the fly by means of an ‘ad hoc’ law.
The rush of many conservatives to find the way out of the labyrinth also has to do with the need to clean up the image of the party and reach the end of the legislature with certain options to beat Labor. But to reverse what the polls predict today, an unbridled erosion of the ruling party, it is necessary that the presence and memory of Boris Johnson fade as soon as possible, as some of the the most relevant ‘Tory’ personalities, several of them present in the Government until they left the ‘premier’ to his fate a few days ago when the situation in Downing Street became untenable.
Hence, once Johnson’s and his entourage’s belief thate the prime minister’s hyperactivity in support of Ukraine and the fading of the pandemic were going to be his saving grace, the impression spreads that the only objective he pursues is to challenge his opponents for the last time and take advantage of the parliamentary vacations to harm those who most accelerated the bankruptcy of his government. A disastrous course because it fosters a situation that in no case clears the future of the Conservative Party and wears away its image visibly.
In other circumstances, Labor would have rushed to demand the dissolution of Parliament and the early calling of elections to solve the puzzle. But in the prospect of a nightmare autumn, with inflation and recession hand in hand, Keir Starmer simply asks Johnson to speed up the relay, The Labor leader is aware that a early election call with so many clouds on the horizon it would be a poisoned gift Something that is as certain as that such a strategy makes it easier for Johnson to persevere in his plan to remain at number 10 until October and to condemn the Conservatives to a long internal dispute before investing the new leader. All very calculated, but nothing beneficial for the United Kingdom.