Local elections could be the end of UK PM Boris Johnson's political career.

Key Takeaways:

• Boris Johnson, the British prime minister, cannot afford to lose John Jones, but he has already done so.
• David Grocott, a Labor councilor, expressed common unhappiness with prominent government officials' partying.
• According to Trevor Johnson, some voters were enraged, but the backlash was not as strong as predicted, a local Conservative councilor running for re-election.

The British prime minister, Boris Johnson, cannot afford to lose John Jones, yet he has already done so.

Jones, who voted for Johnson's Conservatives in a landslide victory three years ago, now regrets his judgment after the prime minister violated his coronavirus lockdown restrictions by attending alcoholic events in his Downing Street office.

The 75-year-old former hospital supply manager stated that he would not vote Conservative again till Johnson was removed from office.

"I am very outraged by the way he has behaved," Jones told Reuters in the central English market town of Newcastle-under-Lyme, a key battleground in next week's local authority elections.

"I've had it with seeing him act like a clown. You can tell he doesn't take his job seriously just by looking at his hairstyle and how he dresses."

Johnson upended British politics in 2019 by winning in both the traditional Conservative heartlands of the south and more industrialized areas of central and northern England.

However, as the government deals with a cost-of-living crisis and disclosures about his behavior, his popularity has eroded.

Many Conservative lawmakers are questioning whether he is still an electoral asset, and poor performance in next week's local elections might prompt a leadership challenge.

Some 170 miles northwest of London, Newcastle-under-Lyme will be one of the most eagerly followed fights.

The Conservatives took the parliamentary seat in 2019 for the first time in a century and got outright control of the council for the first time last year in the Brexit-supporting town, which was formerly known for coal and steel.

Labor councilor David Grocott expressed widespread displeasure that prominent government officials were partying. At the same time, the general public followed severe procedures, preventing some people from saying goodbye to loved ones dying in hospitals.

"Everyone makes errors; we're all human," Grocott said, "but the sad thing is he hasn't disobeyed the rules once, but several times." Grocott could not see his father in the hospital before he died of Covid in 2020.

Some voters were furious, said Trevor Johnson, a local Conservative councilor running for re-election, but the blowback was not as severe as expected.

"I believe he will recover," he stated. Johnson's name and photograph were noticeably missing from his booklets.