This time it matters

By Pete North - April 28, 2021

When Labour talks about Tory sleaze you have to laugh. Labour controlled councils are up to their necks in it. Similarly remainers can’t really talk about revolving doors and lobbying. Virtually no force in politics is fit to point the finger. Moreover, the public are not innocent either. We all knew who and what Johnson was and is but we put him there.

We are, of course, urged to ignore the latest example of Johnson’s malfeasance. It’s just “Westminster gossip” and who cares about that, right? It doesn’t matter, we are told.

Generally speaking I have no time for Westminster gossip not least because it usually relies on speculation and anonymous sources. But when a party donor makes a substantial gift to the PM to decorate his house it brings into question the integrity (or the lack thereof) of the man in the highest political office in the land. That’s not gossip. And yes it does matter.

And while the spat about who said what between Dominic Cummings and the court prostitute rages, it doesn’t particularly matter if the PM did or didn’t say he’d rather see “bodies pile high” than take the country into another lockdown. The fact is, that’s the sort of thing he does say. There is no filter, no inner monologue. That, though, is a known character defect in the PM.

It is commonly remarked that Johnson’s deficiencies as a human being were all “priced in” at the election. That may be true. There was a job to be done. But it’s done. What price the continued debasement of the office of Prime Minister? To still say that such failings are priced in tells us Johnson’s fanboys know his faults as well as the rest of us, only they urge us to overlook them. But why? Why should we? What for?

To a point much of this is the usual Westminster noise, but it certainly does matter that the PM’s consort is calling the shots, and the bad blood around Johnson is spilling out. The proper role of a prime minster’s wife, partner or mistress is to have no role at all beyond the ceremonial. Yet Symonds might as well be a cabinet minister. That matters too.

For much of this year conservatives have brushed off various allegations of sleaze near the top. “The public doesn’t care” we are told. And to a large extent they don’t. It takes energy to care and when caring is a wholly futile use of energy, the public resign themselves to apathy, accepting that corruption is all part of the game. The standards that apply to you and me don’t apply to our senior politicians and that’s just the way it is.

As corrosive as that is, it also points to a deep running crisis of conservatism. It matters that we’re not actually sure how many children the PM has. It matters that he’s a sexually incontinent cheater with a string of mistresses. Conservatism is built on the foundation of family. If Tories are willing to tolerate a degenerate as leader, conservatism is dead. How can a conservative who believes in standards in public office and family values defend a party on those terms when it’s led by that man? Ultimately Johnson has to fall. If he does not fall on his record as a minister and as a prime minister then he must fall on the basis of Westminster gossip. Whatever it takes.

It matters that Johnson bluffed his way through Brexit negotiations. It matters that we lost our main export market for goods and services. It matters that it will take more than a decade to repair economic and diplomatic relations with Europe. It matters that Johnson has fundamentally weakened the United Kingdom. It matters that an intellectually threadbare ideology of “free trade” trumps all other political priorities. It matters that our Board of Trade is stuffed with frauds, cronies and snake oil salesmen.

It matters that our parliament has been reduced to a toothless talking shop. It matters that there is no transparency over the billions in Covid funding that went missing. It matters that corporate cronies have a direct line to Number 10 and the treasury. It matters that everyone who came into government with Johnson will leave it substantially richer.

It matters that that Patel won’t lift a finger to sort out people smuggling. It matters that she’s a crook. It matters that Dido Harding always fails upwards. It matters that we are so used to corruption, fraud, adultery, outright theft, and incompetence that we just accept it as standard fare and it doesn’t dent Tory poll leads. What does that say about us that we are willing to tolerate it? Oh yes. It absolutely matters.

It matters Johnson messed up test and trace and had to lock down because of it. A functioning test and trace system is outbreak control 101. The failure of Johnson and his cronies is the main reason we had to shut the economy down for an entire year. That alone is reason enough to remove the PM. But there is no shortage of other good reasons. Johnson has ruined British agriculture. Johnson has thrown Northern Ireland under the bus. Our fishing industry is dying thanks to his botched Brexit deal. When do you stop making excuses for him?

If that is not reason enough to remove him, Tories need to explain why we should tolerate it. “We’re not Labour” is not a good enough reason. It might be enough to win elections but it cannot be the basis of our entire government if the United Kingdom is to survive. The country can withstand Covid and lockdowns. It can withstand Brexit – even the mess Johnson has made of it, but it cannot withstand a public inured to a government that relies on persuading people that Johnson’s incompetence, corruption and degeneracy doesn’t matter. If that doesn’t matter, we have descended into nihilism.