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11 May 2020updated 06 Oct 2020 9:45am

Boris Johnson is rapidly losing both authority and respect over coronavirus

By Samuel Horti

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s address to the nation on Sunday was a culmination of a week of lies and bungling. A case in point: during his speech, Johnson promised that he’d “consulted” the devolved nations on the impending changes to lockdown measures, which came as a surprise to those nations’ leaders, who said their views had not been heard.

It’s irresponsible actions like this that mean he’s rapidly losing both respect and authority among the public, agues New Statesman contributing writer Martin Fletcher.

​”The root cause of this mess is not hard to divine,” he writes. “Caught between those cabinet hawks and party donors who want to reopen the economy as fast as possible, and the doves who stress the need to save lives, Johnson has produced a muddled compromise that has pleased neither camp. For all his Churchillian pretensions, he has sought the path of least resistance.”

You can read the full piece here.

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