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Boris Johnson Fights Winter Blues in a Drenched Election Campaign

Jamie Dettmer

   Britain's ruling Conservatives are banking heavily on the star quality
   of their leader, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who's had an uncanny
   ability in the past to connect with voters and to cheer them up.

   He's struggled on the campaign trail for next month's highly
   contentious election, however, and, surprisingly, he hasn't prospered
   in several encounters with voters, prompting commentators to query
   whether the shine has worn off Boris or whether Britons are wearying of
   his knockabout style.

   His election earlier this year as leader by the Conservatives, who view
   themselves as the natural party of government, was partly driven by the
   idea that the ever-upbeat, mop-haired former London mayor and
   journalist could secure them a parliamentary majority by casting his
   political spell, dashing around the fractious country with an
   invigorating message and cheery rhetoric laden with quips and jokes and
   endearing gaffes.

   Hardline anti-European Union Conservatives also saw Johnson as the best
   bet to break the three-year logjam in Parliament over Britain's planned
   and messy departure from the EU, and to be the one to actually "deliver
   Brexit."

   However, the much-vaunted Johnson magic hasn't so far been the
   spell-binding force of old in an election that's the most unpredictable
   in years, thanks to Brexit, the fracturing of the country's main
   parties, and the emergence of new ones.

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