FROM mishandling Covid to hiring Chris Pincher, these are the catastrophic errors made by Boris Johnson during his time in power, ranked.
Decorating 11 Downing Street with gold wallpaper
This is low down on the list because slapping gaudy £840-a-roll wallpaper on the walls of Number 11 was more Carrie’s fault than Boris’s. He did nothing to stop her though, and even withheld related messages about funding from his ethics adviser while blaming his newborn son in the process. Textbook parenting.
Backing Owen Paterson
In normal times, the decision to protect an MP who broke lobbying rules from suspension while simultaneously ripping up the Commons disciplinary process would be a prime minister’s defining scandal. However Boris Johnson’s reign was not normal times. This f**k up can’t be placed any higher because nobody died and he eventually U-turned.
Partygate
The discovery that the prime minister and his staffers enjoyed multiple epic piss ups during lockdown was a galling affront to the sacrifices made by the rest of the country. As if that wasn’t bad enough, partygate led to closer scrutiny of the opposition and birthed Johnson’s most wince-inducing insult ‘Sir Beer Korma’.
Proroguing parliament
The prime minister broke the law when he suspended parliament for five weeks in 2019 so that Brexit legislation could avoid scrutiny. That’s a fact upheld by the Supreme Court. Nobody has officially come out and said he lied to the Queen in the process but it’s what everyone thinks, including the Queen probably. It would explain why she can’t be bothered to travel to London to wave him off.
Hiring Chris Pincher
In theory this should be number one in the rankings. The hiring of Chris Pincher by Boris Johnson – who knew the former deputy Chief Whip was related to allegations of sexual misconduct – ultimately led to his downfall. Yes, it was egregious, but it didn’t result in the death of 205,000 people so it has to take second place.
Mishandling Covid
A multi-car pileup of ineptitude from start to finish. First there was the missed COBRA meetings, then there was the delayed lockdowns, the Barnard Castle affair and a close shave with death prompted by his own stupidity. It defies logic that he can say he got all the big calls right when he was the architect of one of the worst public health failures in British history. Although Jeremy Corbyn should also take some of the blame for not beating Johnson in the election.
