Will Boris Johnson win high-stakes coronavirus gamble?

BORIS Johnson gave a televised speech on Tuesday in which he placed a series of much tighter "lockdown" restrictions on UK citizens to fight the coronavirus. After belatedly imposing such measures, he is under growing pressure in what could be a "make-or-break" period for his prime ministership after his previous high-risk, outlier approach did not deliver the results intended.

Voters appear, for now, to still give him the benefit of the doubt with his handling of the outbreak. Take the example of a poll released last Thursday from Ipsos Mori which found 49 per cent of people think the government is tackling the crisis well, whereas 35 per cent believe it is handling it badly. The prime minister personally is also given the benefit of the doubt by 47 per cent to 38 per cent.

Public opinion aside, the big advantage Mr Johnson has, right now, is the significant House of Commons majority he won in December. The timing of that election was very fortuitous for him, given it could have easily been postponed till 2020, when he would have then been in a far tighter political spot - running a minority government in what may yet turn out to be the nation's biggest socio-political crisis since 1945, including a potentially deep recession to boot.