Highlights
- Boris Johnson was able to get Brexit through, but he was subsequently criticized over the Northern Ireland Protocol.
- Boris Johnson has agreed to step down as Prime Minister and Leader of the Conservative Party.
- Mr. Johnson remained adamant when Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid backed down on Tuesday.
Boris Johnson has decided to step down as Conservative Party leader and Prime Minister following a cabinet mutiny and mass resignations from his administration.
Mr. Johnson remained stubborn after Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid backed down on Tuesday, vowing to press ahead despite rising resistance.
He has now determined that the game is over.
Mr. Johnson took over as Prime Minister in 2019, delivering Brexit, supporting the UK through the Covid-19 epidemic, and spearheading a world-leading vaccination program.
However, his tenure as leader was not without controversy.
Brexit
Britain’s exit from the EU was hampered by delays caused by Theresa May’s inability to unify MPs around her Brexit plan.
Following her departure in May 2019, Boris Johnson took her position, promising to achieve Brexit.
After legislation on the departure accord passed in January 2020, he said that the UK had “crossed the Brexit finish line.” The United Kingdom will leave the European Union on January 31, 2020.
However, in the aftermath of Brexit, Mr. Johnson faced harsh criticism for attempting to overturn the agreement on commercial arrangements for Northern Ireland.
Following the passage of the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, he was accused of breaching an international agreement; his predecessor, Mrs. May, warned that the measure would “diminish the UK in the eyes of the world.”
Lockdown
The Government has been chastised for moving too slowly to put measures in place to combat the spread of coronavirus.
The Health and Social Care and Science and Technology Committee released a report in September 2021 stating that the gradual implementation of lockdown was the “wrong policy” and that it led to more deaths overall than would have resulted from a more aggressive early strategy.
Nevertheless, research indicates that England’s first nationwide lockdown, which took place between late March and June 2020, saved countless lives.
But the Partygate revelations, which showed that Mr. Johnson and those nearest to him weren’t necessarily following the rules as the public, tarnished the Government’s reputation for many. The populace was outraged at the sacrifices made while those in power disregarded the same laws.
Furlough
Mr. Johnson approved a £70 billion plan to rescue people’s employment as the nation came to a standstill in lockdown as the Government’s economic reaction to the Covid outbreak was warmly accepted.
Officially known as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, the Treasury’s furlough program subsidized wages so that employers could retain their personnel and continue to pay them up to 80% of their salaries.
The program, which ran from March 1, 2020, to September 30, 2021, resulted in the layoff of 11.7 million employees.
However, the furlough program could not safeguard every employment since one million individuals lost their jobs between April 2020 and June 2021.
Vaccinations The Government’s most significant achievement in combating the Covid epidemic was the prompt and effective distribution of vaccines to many individuals in the UK.
On December 8, 2020, Margaret Keenan of Coventry became the first man in the world to get a vaccination against Covid-19 at the age of 90. Since then, the UK has administered more than 149 million vaccine doses.
By March 2022, about 92% of everyone 12 and older had gotten their first dosage.
In the UK, vaccination programs were implemented quite swiftly compared to other nations.
Ukraine
Both in Westminster and Kyiv, Mr. Johnson’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which included military assistance and steadfast assistance for his equivalent, President Volodymyr Zelensky, was favorably welcomed.
Numerous voters who were enraged by Russia’s invasion supported it as well.
His status at home was improved by demonstrating on a global platform that he could carry himself like a statesman.
He was criticized for skipping a meeting with North Tory MPs to go to Kyiv on his second unexpected trip there in June (the first being in April).
Homes for Ukraine, Britain’s program to accept immigrants from Ukraine, was also plagued by issues, including criticism about the number of persons welcomed to Britain and the poorly run program.
Triple lock
The Government disregarded a party campaign pledge made in the 2019 election in the face of exceptional economic conditions and a cost of living crisis.
To avoid handing older people a raise that would cost billions and billions, governments toned down the state pensions triple lock scheme, upsetting many older voters. Since then, word of its restoration has spread.
Social assistance
The social care system’s repair has been a problem for several governments.
Mr. Johnson introduced the Health and Social Care Charge to collect extra money for services, albeit the NHS will get the £36 billion raised during the first three years.
Additionally, he said that the lifetime cost of social care would be limited to £86,000 per individual. The program drew criticism, meanwhile, for penalizing elderly individuals with less valuable homes who would find it difficult to leave a legacy to their offspring.
HS2
Though Mr. Johnson has pushed the project forward, the building of HS2, which has the potential to transform travel and connect the nation, has been plagued by issues.
Although HS2 is now one of the most expensive taxpayer-funded projects in the UK, neither the overall cost nor the intended path appears to be nearing completion.
After it became known that the projected eastern section of HS2, connecting Birmingham and Leeds, would be scaled back, questions were raised about Mr. Johnson’s commitment to leveling the nation.