UK's Johnson walks tightrope between politics, COVID surge

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is walking a political tightrope as he faces increasing attacks from both friends and enemies amid a surge in COVID-19 infections.

For the second winter in a row, Johnson is betting vaccines will be his savior, urging everyone to get booster shots to slow the spread of the new omicron variant, hoping to avoid further politically unpalatable restrictions on business and social activity.

The threat to Johnson and his Conservative Party was on stark display last week as the prime minister reeled from one political crisis to another.

On Tuesday, Johnson faced the biggest parliamentary rebellion of his tenure as 97 Conservatives voted against new COVID-19 restrictions. Two days later he suffered a stinging by-election defeat in a normally safe Conservative area amid anger over reports that government employees held Christmas parties last year while the country was in lockdown. Then Saturday, one of his staunchest allies resigned from his Cabinet, citing discomfort with the new coronavirus rules.

While Johnson’s policy on trying to restrict COVID-19 infections is sound, he will face increasing pressure from all wings of his party to change course, said Giles Wilkes, a senior fellow at the non-partisan Institute for Government. The challenge is to ignore the political noise and base his policies on science, said Wilkes, a former adviser to the prime minister’s predecessor, Theresa May.

“The past month’s political spasms may mark a historical turning point in the story of this administration,” Wilkes said, highlighting pivotal decisions of former Prime Ministers John Major and Gordon Brown that ultimately undermined their standing with voters. “Those are not happy comparisons for the prime minister to contemplate.”

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