I think history will be more nuanced in its judgment of Boris Johnson then your post implies, Michael. In terms of his record as Mayor, he cut the murder rate in London by around 50%, he left London a far richer city at the end of his term of office compared to how he found it in 2008, he built around 100 000 affordable homes (more than his predecessor, Ken Livingstone), he cut road deaths by around 40%. The only blemish is the waste of £43 million on the Garden Bridge, a beautiful but impractical idea. As far as his record as Prime Minister is concerned, he saved the country from a dangerous political paralysis when a Remainer Parliament tried to reverse the result of the Referendum, he ensured that the British population was vaccinated against covid faster than our European neighbours and thereby saved many lives, he gave crucial support to Ukraine which enabled the Ukrainians to withstand the initial assault on Kiiv. On the minus side, however, he allowed the scientists to overcome his initial scepticism and ordered a disastrous general lockdown and he failed to curb the abuse by Downing Street staff of ambiguous lockdown rules in the workplace.How will history judge Keir Starmer? The removal of WFA, the imposition of higher employers' NI contribution, the imposition of inheritance tax on struggling farmers, the imposition of VAT on the parents of children with special needs at independent schools, the destruction of the British fishing industry in the reset with the EU, the surrender of the Chagos islands, the failure to curb illegal migration. It's not going too well, is it?
Steven Rose ● 69d