( Photo credit: Duncan /Flickr)
Delusional, egotistical and defiant until the end Boris Johnson staged a no-confidence vote on his own government after finally being forced from power by a swamp of ministerial resignations.
More absurd was Johnson’s receiving a standing ovation from his MPs following his final PMQs. It’s not as if he was being ousted from office in disgrace by the vast majority of his cabinet.
Tanks and bailiffs were not quite necessary to get him out of Downing Street, as many secretly feared. The populist Prime Minister had delusively declared that he had no plans to leave, much like when he insisted that he would sooner be found “dead in a ditch” than ask the EU to postpone Brexit.
Nonetheless, warnings that his tenure as Tory leader would be turbulent were issued long before he was elected. His former employer at the Daily Telegraph, Max Hastings, described Johnson as totally unfit for the job. Eventually, it was not only his closest former adviser, Dom Cummings, who turned against him but also, much more recently, many more of his hand-picked colleagues, like Michael Gove, who in turn were accused of betrayal.
Rather despicably, the delayed reluctance to admit that Johnson was never up to the job had more to do with their self-interest than concern for the country. In the background, Johnson was also propped up by a well-oiled and increasingly right-wing media, who throughout his term deflected attention from his aversion to speaking the truth and his contempt for people, conventions and institutions. Alarm bells over his inflated ego should have rung loudly when he refused to accept the Supreme Court verdict that one of his first acts to prorogue Parliament had been unlawful. Fears about the increasingly draconian legislation that has been marched through parliament were ignored.
The crucial task of finding the PM’s successor fell to his MPs, i.e., the people responsible for selecting him and inflicting years’ worth of scandals on a beleaguered nation before finally removing him.
In typically inept fashion, Tory MPs are offering their 150,000 members a choice of two continuity candidates: Liz Truss, a virtual clone of Johnson’s brand of popularism, and Rishi Sunak, his right-hand man in charge of the economy for the bulk of his time in office. Where is the much-needed fresh start or the line drawn in the sand over the past three years of gross misrule? Removing the leader cannot be enough to repair the huge damage done to British democracy and the country’s economy, in which the rich have become richer and the poor poorer.
A comprehensive regime change that shifts away from such destructive policies.Presumably, his departure is welcomed by the British public, Europe, and the rest of the world. Despite his hasta la vista gesture, he is history, having irreparably damaged the country’s reputation.
If he stays on in Parliament, it will essentially be to collect his salary and the perks that come with being an MP. With a case still over his head about breaching the ministerial code, he could still, justifiably, be suspended, which could curtail his life on the political stage, though unfortunately not entirely from our screen. His stand-up act, spiel and writing will undoubtedly earn him a lot of money.
Johnson even alluded to the Darwinian system that produces leaders such as him in his resignation speech, reinforcing the bigoted theory that elites are born to rule.
That may be in his bogus claim of presiding over one of the most dynamic governments of modern times. It must be a time to put his legacy behind us and move on to start to repair the excessive destruction he has caused. Unfortunately, it appears to have been delayed with the appointment of a virtual successor following in his footsteps.
A prime minister sets the tone and example for his government to follow and was shown by the increasing number of ministers blatantly refusing to attend parliamentary committee hearings as if they too ought to be beyond reproach. To date, both Sunak and Truss have focused mainly on economic policy at the expense of dealing with the many problems people are facing in the face of growing inflation and impossible cost-of-living rises.
There are so many issues to be addressed in the wake of Johnson’s departure. Although there are still weeks of hustings to go, much more is needed from the two candidates if they are to free themselves of failed policies.
It has been a dismal and destructive time for British democracy when the unwritten codes meant to guard against abuse of power have been tested but found wanting. At least for a start, there is a need to return to much more conventional politics, where the needs of the people are at the centre of policies and initiatives.
Truss and Sunak have an opportunity to prove their sceptics wrong and disassociate themselves from exclusive principles. A start would be to try to restore ntegrity to the government and how it is run.
