The pandemic is claiming more and more victims among politicians, not by getting infected, but by coming into conflict with the strict rules to contain the virus; rules often established by themselves.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is fighting for his political survival because of “Partygate”, an event where he attended a boisterous get-together at 10 Downing Street in May 2020. Johnson held the celebration when COVID regulations that were imposed by his government strictly prohibited such gatherings.
Johnson later apologized, but not before he went through a series of lengthy denials that included claims that he thought the gathering was a working meeting for Conservative party members.
Another similar event took place the evening before the burial of Prince Philip in June of last year when Health Minister Matt Hancock was photographed enjoying close-quarter intimate caresses with a female staffer. Johnson’s adviser, David Cummings, was also caught having violated COVID protocols when he traveled to the countryside with his wife and children to visit his parents, despite a travel ban.
Both Cummings and Hancock were forced to resign after their actions were made public.
The British public is generally very sensitive to such missteps, particularly when it comes to politicians flaunting rules that they created – an echo of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, where some are”more equal” than others.
In Ireland, Prime Minister Leo Varadkar was also caught having a picnic in a Dublin park at time when strict COVID-19 lockdown rules were in place
In Poland, the unofficial political leader of the country, Jaroslav Kaczynski, caused a scandal in April 2020 when he visited the grave of his parents and twin brother Lech. The visit coincided with a ban on entering public places, including cemeteries. The Polish punk singer Kazik then wrote the song “Your pain is better than mine”. Though he didn’t mention Kaczynski’s name in the song, everyone in Poland understood the allusion to dark limousines in a deserted cemetery.
The song was promptly voted number one in the popular hit parade on the public radio station Troika. A week later, the song disappeared from the radiowaves, officially because of a counting error. The long-time presenter of the program then resigned in protest.
Most embarrassingly, a Hungarian MEP, Jozsef Szajer, was caught by Brussels’ police while attending a lockdown party at a gay club in late 2020. Szajer tried to flee the scene via the club’s rooftop but was instead apprehended by Belgian law enforcement officials. His arrest was even more ironic due to the fact that as a politician back in Hungary, Szajer has been a vocal opponent of LGBT rights.
German Health Minister Jens Spahn has also not been immune to a COVID rules-busting scandal after he took part in a fundraising dinner that was not allowed under Germany’s pandemic regulations on gatherings.
In Austria, too, politicians have not always taken the Corona-related rules very seriously. Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen violated a curfew by dining in the garden of a pizzeria after midnight. Far-right party-leader Herbert Kickl prefers to cheer on the opponents of vaccinations without a mask. Chancellor Karl Nehammer also recently found himself in need of providing a public explanation after he did not take part in the traditional New Year’s concert in Vienna, but later photos emerged showing him just before New Year’s Eve without a mask and sitting closely with friends and ski instructors in an Après-ski-hut.
Nehammer later denied that he contracted COVID, but questions do remain unanswered.
Why didn’t the chancellor say that he prefers to go skiing on New Year’s Day rather than listening to waltzes at the Musikverein? One solution to the problem is offered by the operetta Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss: “Happy is he who forgets what cannot be changed after all.”
