Shropshire Star comment: Stakes are high for Boris Johnson

When he received the keys to Number 10 he knew full well that a series of major challenges were on the horizon – but not even he could have predicted just how turbulent the period would be.

The one thing he did not have in his favour was time.

The public were sick and tired of politicians blocking the will of the people over Brexit, while his own party had been reduced to a shambolic, squabbling mess after three years of Theresa May's dreary and incompetent leadership.

Within a matter of months he had delivered a new and vastly improved deal with the EU, finally silencing once and for all the democracy deniers of Remain.

To get that deal through the Commons he called an election, storming to victory in December and doing the country the great service of ending Jeremy Corbyn's miserable reign as Labour leader.

By the time Britain had left the EU at the end of January, order had returned to British politics.

After years of frugality the spending taps had been turned back on, with plans underway to boost police numbers and improve education.

Then came the coronavirus, which ravaged the country and almost included Mr Johnson among its thousands of fatalities.

So where does Mr Johnson go from here?

The PM has a number of monumental challenges on the horizon, most notably an economic crisis that will make the last financial crash look like a small dip into the overdraft.

There are plenty of people who desperately want him to fail.

In certain less enlightened sections of the media he is considered so toxic that everything he does is instantly denounced.

They obsess over his personal relationship and work themselves up into a frenzy at the slightest whiff of a scandal.

His list of enemies in the political world is a long one, and includes plenty of members of his own party as well as those on the opposite side of the House.

What irks all of them most is that vast sections of the public actually like Mr Johnson.

For every person who views him as the devil incarnate, there are 10 who see him as a genuine man who wants the very best for this country.

And while there are serious questions to be asked regarding the Government's handling of Covid-19, Mr Johnson's qualities of leadership have shone through as the crisis has progressed.

He has managed to achieve more in 12 months than many politicians do in a life time, but the next 12 months will certainly not be easy.

As well as an economic crisis, the country is teetering on the brink of a major diplomatic row with China which could have extremely damaging repercussions.

Meanwhile Brexit trade talks are at a delicate stage, and a genuine electoral threat has emerged in the shape of a reinvigorated Labour Party under Sir Keir Starmer.

The real Boris Johnson – rather than the one who hides behind the spin of a certain special advisor – is more than capable of rising to the challenge.

The stakes are high, and it will take all of his skill and guile to guide the country through this next phase of his premiership.