Even after a U-turn, Boris Johnson is still heading for disaster | William Keegan

The pandemic has forced the Tories into a change of direction even sharper than Edward Heath's. But the crisis is not abating

Boris Johnson is shaping up to be a busted flush. In a remarkably short time he has lost the confidence of the country, Europe and, more important from his own narrow point of view, the Conservative party.

Johnson is probably the worst British prime minister since Lord North, who is remembered for having lost the American colonies. These days the best thing about North is that he is remembered in the name of rather a good racehorse.

Commentators keep calling this a recession. It is not: it is a hammer-blow to the economy administered by a panic-stricken government