Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during a media briefing on COVID-19, in Downing Street, London, Wednesday Dec. 15, 2021. (Tolga Akmen/Pool via AP)
February 1, 2022: Things done in the past often come back to haunt you. Ask Mason Greenwood. Ask Boris Johnson. They are probably the two most unenviable Britons at the moment.
They remain suspects, it has to be stressed. But at great risks are Greenwood’s highly-promising football career and Johnson’s status as the ruler of England. The former’s alleged problem is hormones, while the latter’s trouble is “excessive” workplace drinking in the inner sanctum of the British government.
Johnson had hoped the release of the 11-page report on suspected partying in Downing Street during the pandemic could let him put the drinking scandal behind him, but instead he is facing increased pressure in and outside Parliament after the document by Sue Gray, a senior civil servant, was released just a few days ago.
While Greenwood allegedly hit a woman (it was unclear whether they were boyfriend and girlfriend at the time and whether he did force himself on her) and there were gruesome pictures to go with the allegations, there is nothing that is awful to look at in Johnson’s case (just pictures of people in nice dresses with wine bottles). Yet all the mentioned pictures could cost both men dearly.
The Sue Gray report has just amplified the jokes about Downing Street partying told by comedians, impersonators and all kinds of entertainment celebrities all over England. That is just the tip of the iceberg, as parliamentary trouble is mounting.
And England’s COVID-19 numbers can’t help Johnson either, as they are rising remarkably as if to say “With this prime minister, what else can we do?”
By Tulsathit Taptim
