Remarks
Boris Johnson’s Bet on British Common Sense Isn’t Paying Off
The prime minister has been reluctant to set rules for fighting the coronavirus, counting on people to behave responsibly. That approach hasn’t worked.
Johnson
Photographer: Finnbarr Webster/POOL/AFP/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
Boris Johnson does not like rules. The U.K. prime minister presumes his compatriots don’t either. Good old British “common sense” will always save the day.
As a key architect of the 2016 “Leave” campaign to exit the European Union, Johnson leaned heavily on the message that the British craved freedom from the strictures set by faceless, unelected bureaucrats in Brussels. This year he’s spent months of the coronavirus pandemic shying away from setting rules for social distancing and personal safety, even as the death rate in the U.K. climbed to the highest in Europe. Instead, his Conservative government used words such as “guidelines” and “advice,” putting the onus on the public to, as he said, “do the right thing.”