Boris Johnson’s two years as PM: A casual relationship with the truth and a disdain for the rules
Throughout his life and political career, Boris Johnson has believed the rules don’t apply to him. And as he marks his second anniversary as prime minister this weekend, it seems nothing’s changed.
It was a claim first made by one of his masters at Eton. And the view was reinforced as recently as last Sunday when he tried to dodge self-isolating after coming into contact with COVID-positive Sajid Javid.
Forced into a humiliating U-turn, Mr Johnson is spending his second anniversary as PM isolating at Chequers. So no chums, political cronies or family members to celebrate with him. Or so we’re told.
Boris Johnson won the 2019 election with a pledge to ‘get Brexit done’
But, hey, there are worse places to self-isolate than the PM’s 16th century grace and favour mansion house in the Chilterns, a 1,500-acre hideaway with a tennis court and swimming pool.
Plenty of time for the PM to reflect on a tumultuous two years even by the standards of his rollercoaster life: a second divorce, a third marriage, another child and – of course – narrowly escaping death from COVID.
Boris Johnson was greeted by staff in Downing Street as he returned after winning the 2019 general election with a landslide majority of 80
As well as all that, he’s imposed three national lockdowns – so far – in England, held 57 coronavirus news conferences in Downing Street and introduced countless draconian rules and restrictions that have put him on collision course with Tory MPs and triggered several big backbench rebellions.
That’s after a Brexit war of attrition in his first year in which he shut down parliament illegally, kicked out 21 rebel Conservative MPs, won the Tories’ biggest election victory since Margaret Thatcher in 1987 and fulfilled his pledge to “get Brexit done”.
Boris Johnson met then US President Donald Trump in September 2019
It’s been two years in which he has hired – and fired – Dominic Cummings, broken a Tory manifesto pledge on overseas aid and been accused of breaking an international treaty on trade and ripping up his own Brexit deal on the Northern Ireland protocol.
After his brush with death, he’s become a fitness obsessive, declaring in a speech last year “My friends, I was too fat” and embarking on a punishing exercise regime involving early morning runs through London parks with his Jack Russell cross Dilyn.
The prime minister posted a message on social media in April 2020 to say he had contracted COVID-19 – he was later hospitalised with the virus
He even – temporarily, perhaps – became a football fan during the Euros, wearing his England jersey over his shirt and tie at Wembley in a display that was denounced as a crime against fashion.
Is it really only two years ago that Mr Johnson entered 10 Downing Street on 24 July 2019 and vowed to prove the “doubters, doomsters and gloomsters” wrong over Brexit? Oh, and he also promised to “fix the crisis in social care once and for all”.
Boris Johnson announced the first national lockdown on 23 March 2020
Two years on, we’re still waiting on social care, with the PM squabbling with his chancellor, Rishi Sunak, about how it should be paid for and a blueprint promised earlier this week now postponed until the autumn.
With no Commons majority to speak of in the summer of 2019, Mr Johnson dragged the Queen into the Brexit row by proroguing parliament, a move later ruled unlawful by the Supreme Court.
In February 2020 a family court judge approved a financial settlement between Boris Johnson and his ex-wife Marina Wheeler
He then suspended 21 pro-European Tory MPs, including two former Chancellors of the Exchequer – Ken Clarke and Philip Hammond – and his hero Winston Churchill’s grandson, Sir Nicholas Soames.
But after Labour dropped its opposition to a general election, he called a poll for 12 December. And after a typically flamboyant Johnson campaign involving a bulldozer and a pledge of an “oven-ready” deal on Brexit, he won an 80-seat majority.
The prime minister’s now wife Carrie Johnson moved into Number 10 with him when he took up the role
Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party was crushed as the Conservatives won seats in a so-called “Red Wall” in the north of England and the midlands that had been held by Labour for generations. British politics had been turned upside down.
On 31 January 2020, the UK finally left the European Union. But even now the battles between London and Brussels over the small print of the deal are still raging, with the Northern Ireland protocol disagreement no closer to being resolved.
Boris Johnson and Carrie Johnson announced the birth of their son Wilfred on April 29 2020
In February last year it was all change for the PM: Sajid Javid quit as chancellor after Mr Cummings told him to sack his advisers, Mr Johnson was divorced from his long-suffering wife Marina Wheeler and 11 days later he announced that he and his girlfriend Carrie Symonds were engaged and expecting a baby.
What could possibly go wrong? Well, nearly everything, as it turned out.
The couple adopted Dilyn the Jack Russell cross in 2019
In March COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation, Mr Johnson was forced to announce the first lockdown in England, in a grim TV address to the nation, and then he tested positive.
But the drama was only just beginning. The day after Sir Keir Starmer was elected Labour leader, the PM was admitted to hospital for a week, including three nights in intensive care. Two weeks after he left hospital, Carrie gave birth to a son, Wilfred.
The prime minister met the Queen in person for the first time in over a year in June
Lockdown measures were eased in May, but the PM’s whole COVID strategy was undermined by Mr Cummings making a lockdown-busting trip to Durham, including a drive to nearby Barnard Castle, he claimed, to test his eyesight.
Although it was the beginning of the end for the maverick Mr Cummings, the PM should have fired him there and then. Instead, the soap opera reached a climax – or nadir – with an excruciating news conference by Mr Cummings in the Downing Street garden.
The PM’s former senior aide Dominic Cummings left Downing Street in November 2020 and the pair have since been engaged in a war of words
It was November, after a second lockdown in England, before Mr Cummings left Number 10, carrying a cardboard box containing his belongings. Also ousted was the PM’s spin doctor, Lee Cain, in what the pair claim to this day was a coup masterminded by the PM’s fiancée.
Meanwhile, the PM was earning a reputation for COVID U-turns by easing lockdown measures in England in December, only to cancel Christmas, bring in tough new rules and then a third national lockdown – including shutting schools – in early January as the UK death toll topped 100,000. There has been criticism, too, of COVID contracts being awarded to Tory cronies.
Allegra Stratton was soon appointed as the Downing Street Press Secretary
But then came the vaccine breakthrough: the best news for the PM throughout the whole coronavirus crisis. Even his harshest critics wouldn’t begrudge him the success of the government’s rolling out of the vaccination programme.
The Tories also enjoyed what looked like a vaccine bounce in the opinion polls, although a new poll on the day of the PM’s second anniversary, in the i newspaper, suggests his vaccine bounce may now be ending, with his approval rating slipping into negative territory after a jab high three months ago and a majority now believing he is “dishonest, inconsistent and disorganised”.
And he has used this success to his considerable political advantage. “We vaccinate, he vacillates,” Mr Johnson has taunted Sir Keir several times during Prime Minister’s Questions this year. And the Tories have enjoyed what looks like a vaccine bounce in the opinion polls.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced on social media that he would not be taking part in a Test and Release pilot scheme and would instead self-isolate for 10 days
But as well as criticism for coronavirus U-turns, the PM has also come under fire over his financial arrangements and who is paying for his luxury lifestyle: a holiday in the millionaires’ playground of Mustique at Christmas/New Year 2019-20 and a costly makeover for the Downing Street flat, above Number 11, where he, Carrie, Wilfred and the dog live.
On the Mustique holiday, he was criticised by the Standards Committee for failing to ascertain who paid for it. And on the flat, his own ethics adviser, Lord Geidt, found that he acted unwisely over its funding.
Both Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak were identified as close contacts of Health Secretary Sajid Javid when he tested positive for coronavirus
More criticism of the PM came last month when the Health Secretary Matt Hancock was exposed by a video of what the Sun called a “steamy clinch” with his close aide, Gina Colandangelo, in his Whitehall office.
The matter was closed, the prime minister declared. Oh no it wasn’t! Barely 24 hours later, Mr Hancock was out, replaced by Mr Javid. Bad judgement by Mr Johnson once again, his critics said.
And last Sunday’s abrupt U-turn on self-isolating? Everything we know about the PM and the chancellor suggests it was prompted by Mr Sunak insisting that dodging the rules was wrong and he wanted no part of it.
Matt Hancock resigned as health secretary after breaking COVID rules with his aide in his Department of Health and Social Care office
There’s a common theme here – a casual relationship with the truth and a disdain for the rules – throughout Boris Johnson’s two years as prime minister, although it began much earlier.
Remember, as well of the recollection by his old Eton schoolmaster, he was sacked from The Times for making up a quote and from the Tory front bench by Michael Howard for lying about an affair.
When it was revealed he had a late-night row with Carrie Symonds at her flat two years ago, photos of his battered old car revealed unpaid parking tickets piled up against the windscreen.
Boris Johnson has defended Home Secretary Priti Patel as she faced bullying allegations in his first two years in office
And there’s a story of him being chased off a tennis court in a London park by an attendant because he hadn’t paid his £10 fee.
Trivial anecdotes, certainly, but revealing about the PM’s character, critics claim.
So far, however, despite Sir Keir claiming this week the “road will run out” for the PM because the public believe in “integrity, honesty and accountability” and the left-wing Labour MP Dawn Butler being thrown out of the Commons for accusing him of lying, voters don’t seem to care.
Speaker of the House of Commons Lindsay Hoyle has angrily reprimanded Downing Street multiple times for giving a COVID-19 news briefings before addressing MPs
To his supporters, he’s their hero who won the Brexit referendum, who won the Tories their biggest Commons majority since the glory days of Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s and who succeeded where Theresa May failed and got Brexit done, as he promised.
Two years from now, with the Fixed Term Parliaments Act repealed, Mr Johnson could be leading the Conservatives into another general election campaign. And if the voters are still forgiving or simply don’t care about all the criticisms about his dodgy boasts and ignoring the rules, he could prove his critics wrong once again.
Politics
Government borrowing third-highest record in October as people not spending – official figures
Government borrowing was higher than expected and consumers tightened their belts, spending less than anticipated, official figures show.
Government borrowing rose to the third-highest October level since records began in 1993, though less than a year ago, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Money blog: Three reasons why unexpected rise in energy bills coming
It’s the last assessment of public finances we’ll get before Chancellor Rachel Reeves makes her budget announcement next week. It showed spending on benefits and public services was up, which was offset by higher tax takes.
Expensive borrowing
Billions were spent on borrowing money last month, with interest payments costing central government £8.4bn.
Reacting to the figures, the chancellor’s deputy, James Murray, said, “Currently we spend £1 in every £10 of taxpayer money on the interest of our national debt.
“That money should be going to our schools, hospitals, police and armed forces. That is why we are set to deliver the largest primary deficit reduction in both the G7 and G20 over the next five years – to get borrowing costs down.”
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Budget jargon explained
While the numbers won’t have a direct effect on the budget, with figures already submitted, it illustrates the difficult backdrop facing the chancellor, who’s committed to maintaining her self-imposed fiscal rules to bring down government debt and balance the budget by 2030.
It’s unwelcome news for Ms Reeves.
“There was little good news for the chancellor in this morning’s public finances release, with October borrowing in isolation running ahead of the [Office of Budget Responsibility] OBR’s projections by £3.1bn, the second-highest overshoot so far in this fiscal year,” said Pantheon Macroeconomics’ senior UK economist Elliott Jordan-Doak.
“Borrowing has now overshot the fiscal watchdog’s projections in four of the seven months so far this fiscal year”.
As a result of the fiscal bind, tax rises are widely expected to be announced next week.
Public sector net borrowing reached £17.43bn, above the £15bn forecast by economists polled by Reuters.
A slowdown in sales
Retail sales – how much people are spending – shrank 1.1% in the half-term month too. No growth had been expected, rather than a contraction.
This matters as retail sales figures measure household consumption, the largest expenditure in the UK economy.
Consumers were holding back for Black Friday deals, retailers told the ONS.
Along with weakened levels of consumer sentiment, the data paints a picture of worry about the impact of the budget.
The long-running GfK consumer confidence index dropped this month, suggesting the public is waiting for difficult news.
Sir Keir Starmer has insisted the G20 still matters and is a “really important” forum to bang the drum for British business, despite the decision of Donald Trump to boycott the international summit in South Africa.
Asked what he thought of the US president’s decision, the prime minister simply said Mr Trump had “set out his position”.
The PM added he thought it was “really important to be [at the G20] to talk to other partners and allies so we can get on with the discussions around global issues that have to be addressed, and do have an impact back at home, but also to take the opportunity face to face to further the deals that I want to do for our country”.
Sir Keir has faced heavy criticism at home for the amount of time he has spent overseas and focusing on international affairs. His trip to South Africa to attend the G20 summit is the 45th country the prime minister has visited since taking office.
Speaking to journalists on the flight over to Johannesburg, Sir Keir defended his decision to fly out days before a difficult budget, saying that the international issues being discussed in South Africa have an impact at home, while the G20 nations are important to Britain’s economy.
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G20 lands in South Africa: But who feels forgotten?
“The G20 are the 20 strongest economies in the world, they are very important to the UK,” he said.
“In the last three years, the jobs that have been generated in the UK from countries in the G20 is 200,000 and that focus in the budget will be very much the economy and the cost of living. I will focus on the deals we can do, the business we can do with our partner countries and make sure that the work we do internationally is impacting directly at home in the positive sense, that if you want to deal with the cost of living and make people better off, good, secure jobs with investment from G20 partners and allies is really important.”
As part of these efforts, the government will announce £400m worth of export deals with South Africa during the summit.
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Will this budget help lower your energy bills?
This summit is the first one in the G20’s 26-year history that a US president has not attended, with one diplomatic source acknowledging this was raising serious concerns. They said: “Trump also made the argument that the G7 should be the G8 [at the last meeting in Canada in June] and now he’s not even going to the G20, so his lack of attendance is, of course an issue.”
Mr Trump has also ordered US officials not to travel to South Africa for the annual meeting, although the country’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, said on Thursday evening that this might change, with discussions now under way with the US.
While Mr Trump is not attending, Sir Keir will leave the G20 summit early, coming back to the UK on Sunday to prepare for a tax-raising, and possibly manifesto-breaking budget on Wednesday.
The chancellor raised £40bn in taxes in the last budget, insisting that this was a “once in a parliament” tax raid. A year on, Rachel Reeves now has to raise billions more as she looks to fill a black hole as much as £30bn in the public finances, driven in part by a downgrade in productivity, which has lowered growth forecasts, and also her reversal on spending cuts – the winter fuel allowance and disability benefits – that has left her with around £7bn to find.
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Why has chancellor U-turned on income tax rises?
The government has U-turned on its plan to raise income tax but is expected to extend a freeze on tax thresholds by two years from 2028. The measure will raise about £10bn in additional tax as workers find themselves dragged into higher tax bands and has led to accusations that Labour has broken its manifesto pledge not to raise taxes on working people.
The prime minister, asked whether everyone should expect tax rises in the budget on Wednesday, refused to answer directly. Instead, he said it would be “a Labour budget with Labour values” and based on “fairness”.
He added: “It will have absolutely in mind protecting our public services, particularly the NHS, cutting our debt, and dealing with the cost of living, bearing down on the cost of living. So, they’ll be the principles that will run through the budget.
“Now, of course, the right decisions have to be taken. And we have to see this in the context of 16, 17 years now where we’ve had the crash in ’08, followed by austerity, followed by a not very good Brexit deal, followed by Covid, followed by Ukraine, and that’s why we have to take the decision to get this back on track.
“I’m optimistic about the future, I do think if we get this right, our country has a great future. They’ll be the principles behind the budget.”
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The unusual road to next week’s budget
While the prime minister is focusing on trade at the G20 summit, Ukraine will also be on the agenda amid reports the Trump administration and Russian officials have drawn up a new peace plan to end the war there.
It would require major concessions from Kyiv, including giving up territory not currently occupied by Russia to Moscow and halving the size of the Ukrainian army. The deal has reportedly been drawn up by Mr Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, who met the current secretary of the national security and defence council of Ukraine and former defence minister, Rustem Umerov, in Miami.
Asked about the plan, Sir Keir said he wanted a “just and lasting peace”, adding: “The future of Ukraine must be determined by Ukraine, and we must never lose sight of that”.
I’m told by one diplomatic source that the Europeans have yet to see this plan, while there are questions as to how advanced in the US administration these proposals are and whether they have the support of Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
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Trump’s peace plan: What we know so far
European diplomats are stressing that any peace talks have to involve both Ukraine and European input if it is to have any hope of working. Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said on the eve of the G20 summit they are yet to see any concessions on the Russian side.
“We welcome all meaningful efforts to end this war, but like we have said before, it has to be just and lasting,” she said. “That also means that the Ukrainians, but also the Europeans, agree to this.”
European leaders are discussing how to best equip Kyiv for another winter of war. Talks are expected to continue this weekend over the plan to use Russia’s frozen assets to generate a €140bn loan for Ukraine.
The plan is currently stalled over Belgium’s concerns of legal risk in releasing funds from the Brussels-based depository Euroclear, where most of the Russian assets are held.
Earlier on Thursday, Sky News revealed Sir Keir is preparing for a likely visit to China in the new year. The trip is likely to be controversial given the UK’s fractious relationship with China, made worse by recent allegations of spying in parliament.
Sir Keir said any visit was not confirmed “yet” and insisted the government would “always robustly protect our interests”.
They’ve been billed as the “most sweeping asylum reforms in modern times” and the “biggest shake-up of the legal migration system” in nearly 50 years, but how are the UK’s rules actually changing?
One of the biggest changes will impact almost two million migrants already living in the UK while other proposals will affect people who come here in the future.
Here’s how…
How is ‘settled status’ changing?
Until now, migrants who live in the UK have needed to wait five years before they can apply to settle permanently but this qualifying period will double to 10 years – and some people could have to wait even longer.
Almost two million migrants will be affected by the changes.
Those “making a strong contribution to British life” will benefit from a reduced timeframe.
That means doctors and nurses working in the NHS will be able to settle after five years, while high earners and entrepreneurs may able to stay after just three years.
Migrants who speak English to a high standard and volunteer could also have a faster route to settlement.
NHS doctors and nurses will be eligible for settled status in five years still. Pic: iStock
At the other end of the scale, low-paid workers will be subject to a 15-year wait.
With this, the government is explicitly targeting the 616,000 people and their dependents who came to the UK on health and social care visas between 2022 and 2024 – the so-called “Boriswave”.
The government is going further still in targeting migrants who rely on benefits, quadrupling the current wait to 20 years.
There are also plans to limit benefits and social housing to British citizens only.
And though recognised refugees who came to the UK legally will still be eligible for public funding, they too will be subject to the 20-year timeframe.
How will asylum rules change?
Inspired by immigration policy in Denmark, refugee status will become temporary, lasting only until it’s safe for the person in question to return home.
This means that asylum seekers will be granted leave to remain for 30 months, instead of the current five years, with the period only extendable if they still face danger in their homeland.
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Home secretary sets out migration rules
However, refugees will be eligible to settle sooner if they get a job or enter education “at an appropriate level” under a new “work and study” visa route, and pay a fee.
The government also plans to revoke its legal duty to support asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute, a measure it says was introduced to comply with EU laws which Britain is no longer bound by.
Instead, support will be discretionary, and some people will be excluded – such as criminals, those who refuse to relocate, those who can work but won’t, those who are disruptive in their accommodation, and those who deliberately make themselves destitute.
Additionally, asylum seekers who have assets or income will be required to contribute to the cost of supporting themselves.
What about illegal migrants?
Meanwhile, illegal migrants and those who overstay their visas face a wait of up to 30 years before qualifying for permanent settlement.
But plans to bar criminals from settlement are still being figured out, with the government saying “work will take place to consider the precise threshold” at which someone is ineligible.
“The reforms will make Britain’s settlement system by far the most controlled and selective in Europe,” according to the government.
Alongside the new measures, plans are afoot to boost the number of migrants being removed from the UK.
People thought to be migrants onboard a small boat in Gravelines, France. Pic: PA
What about illegal migrants who are already here?
A “one in, one out” agreement is already in place with France, under which those who cross the channel illegally are to be sent back, with Britain accepting instead a “security-checked migrant… via a safe and legal route”.
“This pilot is under way, and the government is working in partnership with French on expansion,” according to the government.
Furthermore, refugees will not have automatic family reunion rights, and the removal of families of failed asylum seekers is to be stepped up.
Read more:
Countries facing Trump-style visa ban under asylum reforms
Why Labour MPs are uncomfortable with the new asylum approach
Perhaps controversial are plans to offer financial support to those who agree to go voluntary.
The government argues this is “the most cost-effective approach for UK taxpayers and we will encourage people to take up these opportunities”.
Sanctions will also be imposed on nations that fail to cooperate on the return of their citizens, including suspending visas for that country.
And for those who are refused refugee status, the appeals process is to be streamlined, with one route of appeal, judged by one body, requiring applicants to make all their arguments in one go, instead of making multiple claims.
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Inside Britain’s asylum seeker capital
Human rights legislation will be reformed too, in a bid to reduce legal challenges to deportations.
Finally, the number of arrivals accepted through “safe and legal routes” will be capped, “based on local capacity to support refugees”.
The reforms will not apply to people with settled status, and there will be a consultation on “transitional arrangements” in some cases.
The five-year wait for immediate family members of UK citizens remains unchanged, as it does for Hong Kongers with British national (overseas) visas.
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