“If the Prime Minister can say whatever he likes when questioned by the House of Commons and then just say, ‘Ah, I really thought that was true and now I realize it isn’t,’ then there is no real mechanism for it. the House of Commons to hold the government to account,” she said.
Johnson will be voted on Thursday on whether his behavior should be referred to a formal parliamentary inquiry. With a conservative majority of about 80 seats, that is highly unlikely. But it will have conservative lawmakers on the list in support of Mr Johnson — something opponents could use against them in future elections.
On Tuesday, opposition leaders gave a spicy foretaste of those attacks.
“A law-breaking Prime Minister – think about this,” said Ian Blackford, the leader of the Scottish National Party in the British Parliament. “A prime minister who has broken the law and is still under investigation for additional violations of the law. Not just a lawbreaker, a serial offender. If he has any decency, any dignity, he wouldn’t just apologize; he would resign.”
Critics are also unimpressed with how Mr Johnson’s allies have compared the fine he received for breaking lockdown laws to a speeding fine. The prime minister omitted that comparison on Tuesday.
For critics, the biggest cost of the scandal has been the loss of public confidence in government. Covid restrictions have been particularly tough on families with relatives who ended up in hospital, where they sometimes died alone, without seeing their loved ones. Many of those people have expressed outrage that Mr Johnson and his colleagues, who imposed these rules, did not follow them.
“In our strange constitution, everything depends on the public feeling,” said Professor Bogdanor. “If the public feels strong enough, they can resign a prime minister by writing to their MPs, by Conservative volunteers refusing to volunteer, and by voting in local elections.”
Coincidentally, UK local elections will be held on 5 May. They pose as perhaps the ultimate test of whether Johnson will survive this scandal.
