It’s time to assess Boris Johnson’s rollercoaster first year as prime minister

When he swept into No 10, Mr Johnson pledged to banish ‘the doubters, the doomsters, the gloomsters’ that were holding back our nation. It worked for a while at least, says Rob Merrick

Boris Johnson delivers a speech outside Downing Street on his first day as prime minister (Getty)

He won the leadership, divorced his wife, secured a fiancee, fathered a child and nearly died of Covid. It’s a lifetime in one year.”

This is the punchy verdict of one Conservative on Boris Johnson’s extraordinary year in office – and it doesn’t even include taking the UK out of the European Union, after nearly 50 years.

And, of course, just as he promised outside No 10 exactly one year ago, he has solved the social care crisis that has afflicted the country for so long... oh no, wait.

As Westminster packs up – conveniently spreading MPs far and wide, despite the ongoing coronavirus crisis – it’s time to measure up the prime minister’s rollercoaster 12 months and consider what the summer holds.

When he swept into No 10, as a tearful Theresa May scuttled away, Mr Johnson also pledged to banish “the doubters, the doomsters, the gloomsters” that were holding back our nation.

And, for a while, that’s exactly what happened – as pro-EU Tory MPs were stripped of the whip and exiled and the opposition parties lulled, foolishly, into a general election on his terms.

As the nation recoiled from Jeremy Corbyn in horror, a massive majority was won and – just as promised – the UK flag in Brussels was packed up and brought back to Blighty on 31 January.

But it truly has been a year of two halves. Even as Mr Johnson banged a gong to mark the moment, the World Health Organisation was warning of an alarming new disease – not that he took any notice.

Instead, much of February was spent relaxing with his fiance at a grace-and-favour country home and skipping multiple meetings of the emergency Cobra committee.

When the lockdown finally came, on 23 March, it was widely seen as too late, leading to the unnecessary deaths of maybe 20,000 people, the leading epidemiologist Neil Ferguson said.

So, what of the summer? We know Mr Johnson will holiday somewhere in the UK, but not when his delayed marriage to Carrie Symonds will take place, or if he will finally take paternity leave.

And will he squeeze in that tennis match with Lubov Chernukhin, the Russian-born wife of a former Vladimir Putin ally, who paid the Tories a cool £90,000 for the privilege?

Unsurprisingly – in the light of the Russia report controversy – Downing Street won’t tell us that either.

Yours,

Rob Merrick

Deputy political editor