The oven for bread is not in the collective imaginary living mentally scorched by a pandemic it doesn’t end No wonder now the always witty Prime Minister Boris Johnson had run out of jokes in his hat, before the discovery of his clandestine parties during the massive social blackout he imposed on England.

In politics, dictating the rules and not implementing them in personal behavior is usually expensive. In a pandemic like the current one, this is a direct path to political collapse. No one will forget this strange time, especially the first few months after the virus arrived in early 2020. Around this time can’t visit sick relatives, or a dignified farewell to the fallen, when the British Prime Minister’s headquarters hosts the bottles of secrets.

First Johnson is slow to react. The World Health Organization announced the arrival of the pandemic on March 11, 2020, but the prime minister did not lock down the country until March 23. In those days, every day and hour counts lives. The postponement may be “the deadliest decision for the country since the post-war period”, said journalist Simon Kuper. Then, Johnson launched hard cage at the same time he decided – now we know – that the rules he dictated were only mandatory for the others.

Politics is a paradox. Now the ghost of Brexit who could give Johnson the lace, the political leader executed with forceps seemingly impossible separation. Dominic Cummings, the ideologue of the exit, a villainous character known for his manipulative arts, appointed and removed as an advisor by Johnson himself, is now the executioner of his former boss.

Johnson told Parliament that no one had warned him that the upcoming party was breaking the rules. In fact, it is said that I didn’t know it was a party, but ‘work event’. Cummings had confirmed the obvious: that the invitations sent to a hundred advisers and Downing Street officials by the Prime Minister’s assistant, who recommended that each guest “bring their own bottle”, could not have happened without the boss’ approval. . But something was clearer, as Gavin Barwell, Theresa May’s former chief of staff recalls: no one should warn her that such social gatherings are against the rules; “He sets the rules & rdquor;.

The British leader who still has a few friends left. Beyond the mockery expected of the opposition, his ministers started to raise their voices, switching between shame and repositioning in the face of an imminent fall. Those in charge of Science and Health openly criticized what happened. Dominic Raab, deputy prime minister, has overturned that if a prime minister lies to Parliament “usually & rdquor; resign.

Among the population, the man who promised “global Britain & rdquor; and who now broadcast news about the pandemic, parties and alcohol, very low credibility. 68%, compared to 48% in November, consider that Johnson should resign. Seven out of ten surveyed by the conservative newspaper ‘The Times’ believed that he was being dishonest about what happened. The monarchy was also offended. The government has apologized to Buckingham Palace after learning that two parties were being held on the eve of Prince Philip of Edinburgh’s funeral.

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Looks like it’s not an apologetic maneuver go save Johnson’s neck. For his party, the leader who achieved the difficult task of Brexit with a curve, but without falling off a cliff, the same man who brought an impressive electoral victory in 2019 after agreeing to leave, is now a burden. On May 5th local elections will be held in parts of the UK and the ‘Tories’ are considering letting him fall sooner or later.

It is true that it is almost a British tradition to remove a prime minister from office. Margaret Thatcher, David Cameron or Theresa May knew this all too well, whose end came suddenly because of the more or less direct shock of the thorny European debate. Johnson awaits an ending motivated by a somewhat more frivolous reason.