Professor Chris Painter at The Byline Times digs into the lack of direction that the United Kingdom finds itself in under its Prime Minister, Boris Johnson.

Nothing has changed; everything has changed. Following Monday’s vote of confidence, Boris Johnson staggers on, for now. The lyrics from the famous 1960s Beatles track even more perfectly encapsulate, through popular culture, the state of his failing premiership: “He’s a real nowhere man, sitting in his nowhere land, making all his nowhere plans for nobody, doesn’t have a point of view, knows not where he’s going to.”

— Boris Johnson: Nowhere Man by Professor Chris Painter

I didn’t think there would be enough votes on Monday to trigger a leadership contest for the Conservatives. Still, I was somewhat taken aback by the number of politicians who voted against Boris Johnson. The Conservatives have never been a party favoured by myself. Although, it is refreshing to see that there are members of the Conservative party who are willing to take some form of action.

It is hard to conceive of anything that will heal Johnson’s fundamental breach of trust with the public, no matter how many ministers he reshuffles. Already saved twice, first by COVID vaccines and then by the situation in Ukraine, he descends into ever deeper trouble.

— Boris Johnson: Nowhere Man by Professor Chris Painter

While there are plenty of indicators that the UK public is fed up with Johnson’s antics, the only real test of the public’s trust in Johnson is a general election. And the conservatives aren’t going to call a general election early unless they absolutely have to.

Twenty years ago, Boris might have gotten away with continuing on and ignoring the public’s views. Still, there’s no escaping the scrutiny of the people for those in power. With a more connected world than ever before, there are very few ways leaders can hide the ugly truth. I hope that, in time, the world starts to see a change in those that undertake a career in politics. Perhaps those coming into politics will have more tremendous respect for the connected world and commit to doing a more respectful job of governing than Johnson and others.