Boris Johnson and elites' bizarre oblivion to their own pandemic indecency

Boris Johnson.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Getty Images, iStock)

British politics are different. While American politicians tend to hold onto their jobs until — and sometimes even after — they face charges for actual crimes, British officials are routinely forced out or resign for comparably minor lapses of behavior or judgment.

That's why U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, a Conservative, is in bigger trouble than an American president would be in his place. On Wednesday, he apologized in Parliament for attending a cocktail party at his Downing Street residence in May 2020, when Britons faced tight COVID-19 restrictions against socializing. Although the story has been circulating for weeks, Johnson tried to defer questions about the incident until an internal investigation is complete. His recent statement is an attempt at damage control as public opinion continues to turn against him.

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Samuel Goldman

Samuel Goldman is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is also an associate professor of political science at George Washington University, where he is executive director of the John L. Loeb, Jr. Institute for Religious Freedom and director of the Politics & Values Program. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard and was a postdoctoral fellow in Religion, Ethics, & Politics at Princeton University. His books include God's Country: Christian Zionism in America (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018) and After Nationalism (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2021). In addition to academic research, Goldman's writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and many other publications.