Tipping Point for the PM

YouGov survey for Daily Mail

I have never heard such a unanimous denouncement of the government as in the past few days. The performance in dealing with the pandemic has been trounced by scientists, parliamentary committees, the media from all sides and even their own backbenchers. This has then been repeated for their management of the examination results. Gavin Williamson, the floundering Education minister, has gone missing and none of the government ministers apart from the hapless but honest Nick Gibb have been seen in days. The demonstrations by angry school pupils and their parents have been supported by teachers, headteachers, colleges, and universities. The past Head of Ofsted, Sir Michael Wilshaw, has been merciless in his critique of the government over the examination fracas.

Meanwhile, according to the Financial Times, " The UK economy suffered a bigger slump than any other major European economy in the second quarter, shrinking by a fifth and falling into its deepest recession on record. Official data released on Wednesday, 12 August showed that gross domestic product fell more than 20 per cent quarter on quarter, with widespread contractions across all sectors. The figures confirm that the pandemic has hit the UK harder than other developed economies. The decline in UK GDP since the end of 2019 is double that in the US and second only to Spain among European peers. The UK compares especially badly with Germany, where GDP fell 11.9 per cent over the first half of the year, and with the US, which suffered a 10.6 per cent drop."

The end of furloughing in October is threatening up to 2 million jobs and the impact on so many industrial sectors is leading to demands for special protection from numerous groups. The only sectors that seem to be thriving apart from the supermarkets and online retailers is the housing market as city dwellers seek to move to the country to work from home and to avoid lengthy commutes by public transport.

On other fronts, we are told that there has been no real progress on the Brexit negotiations. The emigration of British citizens to Europe is at a record high, Priti Patel is seeking to deploy gunboats to prevent the arrival of refugees from across the channel and accused the French of being racists. Dozens of contracts have been let by the government to companies or friends of government ministers without tendering. Any powers to tackle the pandemic through test and tracing are being refused for local areas. The inquiry into the pandemic has been kicked into the long grass where the Grenfell Tower Inquiry is still languishing.

In Belarus, President Lukashenko, who is said to have received 80% of the popular vote at the recent election is being hounded out of office by disbelieving voters. Meanwhile, in the UK, the government was elected by only 29% of the electorate but seems inured against any change. PM Boris Johnson is now lagging behind the new Labour leader Keir Starmer in opinion polls. In these days of uncertainty and with the government showing incompetence across the board there may be changes ahead as the populist jingoism that melodied Boris Johnson and his merry men into power begins to sound out of tune.