After Slovenia, Greece. At a time when the UK is going through several crises, including historic inflation and drought, outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson has started his second vacation in a fortnight, enough to fuel accusations of a power vacuum as he awaits his successor.
In recent weeks, the Tory leader, forced out of his party after a series of scandals, has missed emergency meetings due to the heat wave, stayed away from the England team’s celebrations at the Women’s European Football Championship and spent a few days on their honeymoon in the mountains of Slovenia in early August.
Over the weekend, he was photographed and filmed in a supermarket in suburban Athens with his wife Carrie, while a removal truck was parked outside their residence at 10 Downing Street on Monday.
British Prime Minister in Attica
“The prime minister is on vacation this week,” said his spokesman, stressing that the heads of government, even absent, remain “informed on all urgent matters and make decisions, particularly on matters of national security.”
Images of the British prime minister wandering into the convenience store were spread on Twitter on Sunday, as this post from an account hostile to Boris Johnson shows.
According to the news site INewsBoris Johnson spends a few days in Nea Makri, in Attica, not far from his father’s villa in Horto.
numerous files
This escapade comes as Boris Johnson vowed to stay in business until a new Conservative Party leader is appointed. Only two candidates remain in the race, chief diplomat Liz Truss, the favourite, and former finance minister Rishi Sunak. The result of the internal election is expected on September 5.
Voices have been raised in the British political class to criticize Boris Johnson for being absent from subscribers at a time when his compatriots are experiencing a very sharp increase in the cost of living, with an explosion in particular in electricity prices and gas. Forecasts of further massive bill increases in October and then January, coupled with the central bank’s warning of the magnitude of the crisis ahead for the UK economy, have prompted calls for urgent action, not waiting for the arrival of of his successor.
Downing Street said last week that it would be up to the “future prime minister” to act on this crisis, and not Boris Johnson, who was supposed to handle current affairs.
The country is also facing a historic drought that is hitting the agricultural sector hard and has forced irrigation restrictions in several regions. The images of the completely dry birth of the Thames have gone around the world.
BBQ on the go
However, this summer -whether or not he is on a trip- the Prime Minister has failed on several occasions to call for activities that are less official than recreational. the guardian Boris Johnson’s summer party chronicle was held here. At the end of June, already, he multiplied the barbecues in the company of the most faithful members of his field to thank them for having supported him, although without success, in the turbulence that he ended up winning within the Party. Barbecues organized in the Checkers Court mansion, the holiday residence of the Prime Ministers and renowned by the British press “Summer Sausage Offensive(or “the summer sausage offensive”), according to the great local tradition of culinary metaphors.
On July 25, Boris Johnson even skipped a briefing on the country’s heat wave, preferring instead to attend a farewell party where he mingled with celebrities. Tories.
the guardian remarks that he had not yet celebrated the first anniversary of his marriage to his wife Carrie at Checkers Court… before giving up, cooled by accusations launched by his opponents who suspect that he wanted to stay in office a few more weeks so he could enjoy the residence one more summer. Ultimately, Boris and Carrie Johnson were still able to mark the event on July 30, thanks to the generosity of Lord Bamford, a prominent Conservative Party donor, who lent them his home near Wales for the occasion, as noted. Bloomberg.
It was after this party that the couple flew away for a belated honeymoon, at Villa Planinka in the Slovenian mountains. The Johnsons stayed from August 3 to 11 at this hotel where each night costs between 287 and 541 euros. However, the spokesman for 10 Downing Street said the trip was not paid for with taxpayer money. Holidays followed, therefore, by a second in Greece a few days after his return.
“The party continues”
The Labor Party estimated that “the party continues for Boris Johnson, at a time when the whole country is struggling to pay its bills.”
“Judging from the last few months, it doesn’t much matter whether the PM is at work or on holiday, as he has not been up to the challenge of the crisis in living standards, due to the Conservative Party,” said a spokesman for the left opposition.
Labor, however, has been criticized for its supposed passivity in the face of the crisis, since its leader, Keir Starmer, was on vacation last week and only on Monday presented his party’s proposals, including the freezing of gas prices. and electricity.
For Brandon Lewis, Boris Johnson’s former minister, the latter has not “thrown in the towel”: “It will probably be his second week of vacation in a year, and certainly this year (…) even when we are not in the Downing office Street, we are working.”
According to the newspaper The times, Boris Johnson intends to undertake “a series of visits and speeches” after his return next weekend, in order to encourage his successor to continue defending his priorities, including the UK’s support for Ukraine against the Russian invasion. And he intends to remain present in the public debate despite the planned parliamentary investigation into his attitude during the “partygates”, those parties in Downing Street during confinement that precipitated his departure.
The former mayor of London remains popular in his party. More, according to some polls, than the two candidates for his succession, and the media speculate with a desire to return to power. Meanwhile, many would see the former journalist holding a paid position as an editorialist: according to the guardianwas approached by the tabloid daily mail who supported him to the end despite the scandals.
Source: BFM TV
