Boris Johnson’s “work events” in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic
By Ralph T. Niemeyer
At the end of 2021, a scandal began to flare up in the UK around Prime Minister Boris Johnson, associated with the neglect of him and downing street staff anti-covid rules. Almost weekly, new details of the parties of the English prime minister appear in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is already known that on June 19, 2020, Johnson celebrated his 56th birthday at the workplace, where relatives, friends and colleagues were invited. It is also reported that the British Prime Minister attended at least two more parties in May 2020.
For his participation in these events, Johnson apologized to everyone who was outraged by his behavior, explaining that, in his opinion, it was only about “work events”.
The party with the participation of the British Prime Minister, which took place on the eve of the funeral of the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip, deserves special attention. For this incident, Johnson issued a separate apology to the British monarchy.
Since the beginning of January 2022, due to alcohol parties on Downing Street, the rating of the Conservatives and Boris Johnson personally began to plummet, while the support of the Laborites, on the contrary, increased significantly. Party members of the British prime minister say that further details of alcohol parties will put his premiership in jeopardy, and the fall in popularity among voters could be critical for Johnson’s political career.
In order to somehow save his falling rating, Boris Johnson has developed several operations to return the sympathy of voters.
According to British media, one of these operations is called «Save Big Dog», which involves extensive measures of social support for vulnerable segments of the population (pensioners, the poor and the unemployed), as well as some easing of restrictions imposed from the spread of COVID-19. Another operation is called “Red Meat”, according to the plan of which the exemplary dismissals of all those involved in organizing scandalous parties are planned.
Against the backdrop of the measures taken by Johnson, the “Ukraine crisis” looks like another operation by the British prime minister to divert attention from the scandal associated with it and increase his electoral support.
During his visit to Ukraine on February 1, 2022, Boris Johnson announced the rapid imposition of international sanctions in the event of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. “Alongside other countries we are also preparing a package of sanctions and other measures to be enacted the moment the first Russian toe-cap crosses further into Ukrainian territory.,” Johnson said at a joint press conference with President of Ukraine V. Zelensky conferences.
The head of the British government noted that this is being done ” And we have done all this and prepared all this, not as a show of hostility towards Russia, but as a demonstration that we will always stand up for freedom, democracy and Ukrainian sovereignty in the face of aggression.”
But to date, this Russian “aggression”, which, according to the British media, was supposed to begin on February 16, has not happened …
For Boris Johnson, the “Ukraine Crisis” is a very convenient topic for diverting attention from the alcohol party scandal. One example of this is the meeting of the UK Parliament in January 2022. Then, in response to a question from the leader of the opposition Labor Party, Keir Starmer, whether Boris Johnson understands the damage he is causing to the country and whether he should leave his post, the prime minister turned the conversation to the topic of tension around Ukraine: “We have a crisis on the border with Ukraine.
The UK government is uniting the West, under the leadership of the prime minister, the foreign secretary, the secretary of defence, to implement the toughest package of sanctions to deter President Putin from what I think would be a reckless and disastrous intervention. This government is doing it,” Johnson said.
