Why the cost of living crisis could finally prove to be the undoing of Boris Johnson - Mark Casci

The current occupant of Number 10 Downing Street was once famously described as being the Carlsberg politician, playing on the Danish beer’s renowned slogan in saying he could reach parts that others could not.

This has proven the case throughout much of the career of Boris Johnson.

Throughout his political life, scandal has never been far away. And each time he has walked away with only minor scratches at worst.

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As mayor of London, he drew criticism for describing the £250,000 he was paid per year for a column in a national newspaper as “chicken feed”, despite it being roughly ten times the average wage of the time.

Will the cost of living crisis prove the end for the PM?Will the cost of living crisis prove the end for the PM?
Will the cost of living crisis prove the end for the PM?

When he returned to Parliament he was one of the key figureheads in the Vote Leave campaign and famously stood in front of the bus bearing the outrageous distortion that leaving the EU would result in £350m being available to the NHS.

As foreign secretary, he famously claimed that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been imprisoned in Iran for teaching journalism, another falsehood with the political prisoner having simply been in the country to visit family. The 43-year-old remains in an Iranian jail.

All of this could not prevent his straight-forward winning of the Conservative leadership in 2019, nor his thumping 80-plus majority over the hapless Jeremy Corbyn at a general election of the same year.

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Since being in Downing Street he has overseen the botched initial response to Covid 19, locked down the economy for months at a stretch while parties took place on Government premises – including the one he resides in – U-turned on HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail, bottled the Owen Patterson scandal and allowed his Downing Street flat to be redecorated at a cost of more than £100,000 with huge question marks raised over how these funds were raised.

Prices are risingPrices are rising
Prices are rising

The last few weeks appear to for once have taken its toll on the PM, with Johnson slipping behind Keir Starmer in the polls and his party defeated in crucial by-elections.

Despite all of this, his standing remains far from perilous and the notion of a serious leadership challenge remains unlikely.

However, the Prime Minister is now set for arguably his biggest test yet and, unless he pulls a proverbial rabbit from the hat, it could finally prove to be his political Waterloo.

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The cost of living crisis is set any day now to push Covid far down the news agenda and take centre stage.

Households are facing a squeeze this year.Households are facing a squeeze this year.
Households are facing a squeeze this year.

National Energy Action is warning of some six million people being pushed into fuel poverty in the coming weeks. Not since the mid-1990s have so many people faced having to choose between eating and heating. The Resolution Foundation has predicted an additional £1,200 cost to households for energy.

Spiralling fuel costs will inevitably be handed down to consumers, meaning already high prices –inflated by the disruption of Brexit and the pandemic – will rise.

And this is before a planned hike in National Insurance payments is imposed and as inflation looks set to rise to six per cent.

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The cost to households and businesses is going to be overwhelming.

Energy prices are skyrocketing.Energy prices are skyrocketing.
Energy prices are skyrocketing.

Some companies will take some of the heat, if you can forgive this poorly articulated pun. In recent weeks, Shell confirmed more than $5bn in payouts to shareholders, a move which drew widespread criticism.

However, the majority of the ire is likely to fall at the door of the Government and as its head, Johnson will be in serious hot water.

No credible mitigation has yet been suggested. Labour has called for a windfall tax on offshore energy firms but such companies tend to be locked into long-term deals.

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For all his bluster about going green, renewable energy still only comprises a fraction of our energy offering.

It could well be that Johnson, the survivor of a seemingly never-ending pipeline of scandals, may finally be set to meet his match.

Whether his successor will have a solution that meets the challenge remains to be seen but unless urgent action is taken, the politician who reaches parts others can’t reach may finally have run out of luck.

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