Can Boris Johnson avoid being blamed for post-pandemic ‘austerity’?

The prime minister faces intense pressure for more public spending on schools, the NHS and foreign aid. John Rentoul writes on the financial battle to come

Boris Johnson in an upbeat mood at a whisky distillery today – but there are hard choices to come (PA)

The shape of post-pandemic politics is emerging. We need to look ahead only a few months to a future like Israel’s, where coronavirus cases are so rare that hand sanitisers on buses have been converted to dispense sun cream.

Israel’s turbulent politics might also be a warning to Boris Johnson. When the pandemic is over, his vaccine-boosted popularity will be over too. Today, we saw what sort of issues will crowd in to replace headlines about what restrictions might be lifted when.

Many of them are about money: foreign aid; schools catch-up; the NHS backlog. The demands for extra public spending are intense, and cannot all be satisfied. How can the Conservatives avoid being blamed for a new “austerity”?