Boris Johnson Needs to Come Clean on the U.K. Economic Outlook
The outlook for the U.K. economy is bleak. The prime minister should say so.
Sunak and Johnson in Sept. 2020.
Photographer: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Europe“Never let a good crisis go to waste,” Winston Churchill argued in a wartime phrase repeated to good effect during the last recession by Rahm Emanuel, President Barack Obama’s chief of staff. It’s a sentiment British Prime Minister Boris Johnson would do well to adopt.
Alarm about the Russian invasion of Ukraine has buried the bad news about Johnson’s domestic woes for the moment. Having called out Russian aggression abroad, he now has to level with voters at home. To win back trust lost during the partygate scandal, Johnson should use the crisis to be honest about the difficult economic times ahead. He also needs to have a frank conversation with Rishi Sunak, his fiscally conservative chancellor and possible successor.