As the pandemic slows, Britain will continue to succeed

Azeem Ibrahim | 26th January 2022 | Comment, Magazine

Boris Johnson may be in trouble, but the Britain he leads is not, argues Azeem Ibrahim

Boris Johnson may be in trouble, but the Britain he leads is not. Britain is now moving to a new stage in its pandemic. The Omicron wave has washed in and is swishing out, with the NHS still intact. The country is once again one of the freest from public health restrictions in the developed world.

In America and in Europe, British politics has been a spectacle of light amusement. In comparison to the US, where discourse often includes talk of a second civil war, Britain’s political scuffles can seem, to some, a little quaint. Yet others view Mr Johnson as analogous to Donald Trump and delight at his serial disasters.

Many in Europe are unhappy at Mr Johnson regarding Brexit – both for his campaigning it, and taking the country through it. In government, his ministry has made progress, with negotiations proceeding between the EU and Britain which slowly inch towards reasonable settlements over the Northern Ireland Protocol and areas of mutual interest like trade.

The New York Times has published a withering opinion piece suggesting that ‘partygate’ revealed who Mr Johnson “really is” and it’s not unflattering. Similarly, The Atlantic recently published a chin-stroking report suggesting Britain might be coming apart at the seams. Is it, the paper wonders, suffering from the sort of existential collapse reminiscent of the Austro-Hungarian empire and Sicily before the unification …

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