Journalist gives damning overview of Boris Johnson's "hopeless" first year as PM

23 July 2020, 16:56 | Updated: 23 July 2020, 17:00

Journalist gives damning overview of Boris Johnson's first year as PM

By Fiona Jones

Today marks a year since Boris Johnson became Prime Minister - this journalist gave his damning overview of the Government in the last 365 days.

Journalist Martin Fletcher told Eddie Mair if he were a Conservative he would point to three of Mr Johnson's achievements.

Firstly Mr Johnson managed to unite the party - which he has done by "purging all moderate sensible Tories from its ranks"; he has won an election - but against "a deeply divided opposition...with a hapless leader"; thirdly, he has taken the UK out of the EU - but he has done this "by dint of giving way on our number one red line which was no border in the Irish Sea."

"I could secure a good Withdrawal Agreement if I could pitch late on my main points so I don't think there are any achievements there," Mr Fletcher.

While Mr Fletcher understood every Government has struggled with the pandemic "we seem to have done worse than certainly any other European country."

Journalist gives damning overview of Boris Johnson&squot;s "hopeless" first year as PM — Journalist gives damning overview of Boris Johnson's "hopeless" first year as PM. Picture: PA/LBC

"On top of all that we're nowhere near his election promise of getting Brexit done," Mr Fletcher said, "we're in a position where we're about to leave the biggest single market free trade area mankind has ever created and we have nothing to replace it so far."

Mr Fletcher told Eddie that he had written before Boris Johnson was voted in that he was "hopelessly unfit for office and I stand by that."

Eddie asked him if he could point to "anything positive" about Mr Johnson's year in office and Mr Fletcher apologised and said he could not.

"It's a Government of yes men; the members of the Cabinet have secured their places by being totally subservient.

"It's a Government in which good men...are ousted because they don't share the revolutionary zeal fervour of this Government.

And bad people like Priti Patel against whom there are very serious bullying allegations...Robert Jenrick against whom there is a very serious allegation concerning approving a very dubious property deal with a Tory donor. They seem to flourish and good men seem to get chucked out."