Boris Johnson strains to feel others’ pain, and the UK is losing patience

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Picture: POOL VIA REUTERS/ALBERTO PEZZALI

Johnson rejected the Labour opposition’s demands for a two week ‘circuit-breaker’ over school half-term only a fortnight ago. Now he is imposing a full lockdown across England from Thursday. Libertarian MPs in his party are seething at the volte face. Opinion polls show confidence in his government’s ability to handle the crisis tumbling. This is the second time he has resisted a lockdown only to later cave to his medical advisers.

Alas, in the space of two weeks, Johnson has emerged from two political rows looking needlessly nasty. He seems to have a tin ear when it comes to combining strength with empathy. And whether in politics or corporate culture, empathy is the game in town. But when Rashford asked for the same benefit to be extended to 1.3-million children during the half-term and winter holidays, the government balked. Sixty-million pounds was the disputed sum. Given the billions already spent to prop up the economy, it was a drop in the ocean.

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