DIn the world before, Boris Johnson boasted of shaking hands with patients on the Covid-19, he dried up the meetings of the pandemic crisis cell but found time on the same day to attend a dragon dance to celebrate Chinese New Year.
At the end of February, when the virus pointed its nose in Europe, it disappeared two weeks on vacation in the manor of Chevening, in Kent, with his partner Carrie Symonds. Its hour of glory had arrived: the promised divorce with the European Union (EU) had finally been declared on January 31, opening a new era for a United Kingdom liberated from Brussels, recovering its " independence " to reconnect with its global ambitions.
In the present world, "BoJo" takes over the reins of power after having been severely affected by an illness of which he has finished joking. Monday, in front of 10 Downing Street, he appeared emaciated but " pumped ", according to his own expression. The UK, he said, will emerge from this epidemic "Stronger than evers ".
For the time being, the country is in shock, posting, with 21,000 deaths officially recorded, but in reality 41,000 according to Financial times, one of the worst results in Europe. In any case, far less than the 250,000 deaths predicted by experts at Imperial College who, in late March, finally convinced the Prime Minister that his "collective immunity" strategy, refusing containment, was preparing a tragedy.
"The altar of British exceptionalism"
Apparently, the pandemic has relegated to the background the Brexit, national psychodrama for four years. But if the word has largely disappeared from the headlines, the project remains the common thread of a triumphantly acclaimed prime minister in December 2019 on the watchword "Get Brexit done!" " ("Let's make Brexit!").
It would be a mistake to consider that the Covid-19, by weakening Boris Johnson and monopolizing the political debate, renders obsolete the design of the rupture with the continent. The idea of a British uniqueness remains central to Mr. Johnson’s political strategy. Far from undermining it, the virus could paradoxically strengthen it.
If Boris Johnson was slow to decide on confinement, explains the subtle columnist of theIrish Times Fintan O’Toole, is that he is convinced that" there had to be a separate British response to this global challenge. ” " Lives, he asserts, were sacrificed on the altar of British exceptionalism. " When he finally announced that he had to stay at home, the Prime Minister said he understood the gravity of this obstacle to "Ancient and inalienable right of the people of the United Kingdom, born free, to go to the pub". A perfect expression of nationalism of libertarian tendency which permeates the speeches of the head of government. The lamentable episode of the European tender for the supply of respirators, to which London did not subscribe, comes from the same proud conception.
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