Boris and Brexit are to blame for the British chaos

 

Wolfgang Hansson 

 

Published: Less than 40 min ago 

 

This is a commenting text. Analysis and positions are the writer's. 

 

COLUMNISTS 

 

Boris Johnson and Brexit are ultimately to blame for the political and economic chaos in Britain. 

 

Ever since the Brexit vote in 2016, things have been going downhill for the country. 

 

If the Tory party makes Johnson Prime Minister again, it is a guarantee that the chaos will continue. 

 

Departing Liz Truss showed astonishing ineptitude and total tone deafness. But she was in a sense out of luck from the start. Brexit and the dream of re-establishing Britain as a great power in all fields has become anathema to the Conservative Party and to the country. 

 

Behind Brexit is Boris Johnson, who was the general election of the left side before the referendum in 2016. Without him, there probably would not have been a majority. Johnson shamelessly spread falsehoods and campaign promises that were simply impossible to keep. He painted the picture that the British could leave the EU painlessly but still retain all the benefits. 

 

Boris Johnson was the British equivalent of Donald Trump. A populist politician with the ability to strike a chord with people but with a picture of reality anchored in the imagination. 

 

Brexit has brought down four prime ministers in six years. David Cameron, who staked his political career on Britain remaining in the EU, could not remain in office after losing the referendum. 

 

Theresa May had an impossible task to deliver a Brexit that the hard Brexiteers in the party could accept. Johnson was one of those who put the knife in May's back by demanding the impossible.

 

Liz Truss announced her resignation at a lightning press conference on Wednesday. Photo: Alberto Pezzali / AP 

 

No success 

 

His plan all along was to take over the prime ministership. In the face of Brexit-weary voters, he also managed to make a super election in 2019 with the promise to "get Brexit done". 

 

But then reality caught up with Teflon-Boris as well. Poor handling of the pandemic and scandals such as holding parties in 10 Downing Street when all other Britons were under strict lockdown forced him to leave. 

 

But basically it was still the economy. Brexit was not the success he painted. On the contrary, the British were hit by empty shelves in stores when deliveries failed, shortages of health workers, construction workers and waiters as rows of EU citizens left the country. 

 

On top of that, sharply increased prices and amounts of bureaucratic hassle. The current economic crisis has hit the British worse than the EU countries. Inflation is higher, interest rates have increased more and while EU countries can help and support each other, the British stand there alone. 

 

Alone with his dream that the status from the empire era can be restored. Because that is where the shoe really squeezes. 

 

The British, I'm talking about the Conservatives in particular, hate to see themselves as European averages who have to obey what some high-ranking bureaucrats in Brussels say. Their image is still that Britain is an exceptional country with a special task in history. 

 

Sent military force 

 

Just look at the week that ended with the funeral of Queen Elizabeth. An incredibly impressive spectacle that only a country with a hugely inflated self-image could stage with such clarity. 

 

It was no coincidence that after Argentina occupied the British territory of the Falkland Islands in 1982 with a population of 3,000, Margaret Thatcher sent a large military force to retake the islands. The fact that they were on the other side of the globe, just north of the South Pole, didn't matter. 

 

Anything else would have been unthinkable and an acknowledgment that the country's days as an empire were over. 

 

The return was met with a euphoria at home that even a World Cup gold in football would not give. 

 

Liz Truss wanted to do a Thatcher and become a hero by re-establishing Britain as an economic superpower. When the market told her that the UK economy had turned into a lone and weak player, she and her Conservative party colleagues were shocked. 

 

The self-image of the exceptional kingdom collided with brutal reality.

 

In today's crazy British world, the unthinkable has become possible, writes Wolfgang Hansson. Photo: David Cliff/AP 

 

Crazy world 

 

Now Boris Johnson's name is being seriously put forward as a candidate to once again become the country's prime minister. He who was humiliatingly forced to leave the post with his tail between his legs this summer and who is still under investigation for serious violations of the rules during the pandemic. 

 

It sounds unlikely but in today's crazy British world the unthinkable has become possible.

 

New elections would be a way to solve the crisis, but since the Conservatives risk being wiped out if elections were held today, it is unlikely that the Tories will agree to that demand from the opposition.  That would be political suicide.  

 

On the other hand, I assume that the conservatives take their common sense prisoner and appoint someone other than Boris, for example former finance minister Rishi Sunak or defense minister Ben Wallace. Appointing Johnson would be a guaranteed way to see political chaos continue and market discontent grow. 

 

Ultimately, the British people have themselves to blame. They voted for Brexit, albeit by a narrow margin, and confirmed their choice when they handed Johnson a landslide victory in 2019.  

 

Their dream of being able to somehow restore the glory days of the empire, the glory days, looks like it could end in a nightmare.