Boris Johnson’s government is in trouble. Since Rishi Sunak’s spring statement, whispers from Downing Street suggest a mood of panic and a continuing lack of answers to the sharpest fall in living standards since records began. The government’s supposed core project of “levelling up” is now nowhere to be seen. Johnson’s latest brief spurt of affected purpose and seriousness came to a close when he compared Ukrainians to British people who voted to leave the EU (and, true to form, then half-apologised via an anonymous source). When the next election comes, it is starting to look like the Tory pitch to the electorate will be singularly cheap and nasty, based on a hyped-up cut in income tax and an attempt to revive the spirit of Brexit, combined with attacks on a much bigger target than Labour: social liberalism and left-leaning ideas in the wider culture, which the Conservatives are already frantically demonising as an incipient “woke” revolution that must be stopped.
That does not mean the fearsome Tory talent for crushing the opposition will not once again work its wonders. But at the heart of the public mood, it feels as if there might be a mounting realisation. Here we are, nearly 15 years after the first stirrings of the financial crash and six years on from the Brexit referendum, and what has fundamentally changed? The disgrace of partygate – which may soon come roaring back – has vividly shown that those in power continue to be arrogant and out-of-touch. People’s everyday struggles are worsening. The effects of inflation on the public sector and the continuing hacking back of local services mean austerity will grind on. After long years of political turbulence, there is a grim sense of being back at square one.
