Only total change can tackle toxic Tory legacy
LAST week, even Boris Johnson accepted he could no longer defy political gravity and threw in the towel, in the face of a record number of ministerial resignations and the biggest cabinet rebellion in history.
Johnson’s lies and cavalier contempt for rules proved his downfall, just as they had propelled his rise.
His parting shot was a typically grudging and graceless speech lacking all humility and contrition.
There was, of course, not even a hint of apology to the British people, whose trust he had so arrogantly betrayed.
Engulfed in a string of selfinflicted scandals and serial sleaze, Boris Johnson’s corrupt and incompetent conduct has heaped chaos upon the country during the worst cost of living crisis in decades, yet he is still clinging on at Number 10.
Most individuals, when they know they have lost, prefer that the humiliation of hanging on to a difficult job for which they no longer have public consent is as short as possible.
I was, therefore, slightly surprised that Johnson was so determined to stay put, and for so long, until it became clear that he and his wife had plans for a lavish wedding celebration in the gardens of Chequers. (It would be interesting to know who was going to pay for that party because his whole record suggests that it would not be Boris).
For once, I completely agree not only with John Major, but with others who have said he should go as soon as possible.
Bluntly, I simply do not trust the man. I realise that he claimed that he would not misuse the continuing power he still holds, but if you could trust a word he says we would not be in this position. Those who want to allow him to stay on until a successor is chosen are relying on him ‘doing the decent thing’ and behaving well, which is flying in the face of his entire track record.
We are now seeing an unseemly succession scramble among those who clung on to the last minute and who a week before, or indeed right up to Johnson’s resignation, were still defending his behaviour.
Clearly, they may use the word integrity, but they do not understand what it is.
Even the best among them – and I both understand and accept party loyalty – have over these weeks and months voted for some appalling policies.
Few of them really seem to understand either that there is a cost of living crisis, or what it means to people.
For example, we are being warned of a sharp increase in Covid cases. Yet the government has not only withdrawn support for the cost of diagnostic tests, but continues with a disgracefully ungenerous system of statutory sick pay – all of which makes it very hard for people who should stay at home to afford to do so.
We have now had 12 years of Tory government with unprecedented cuts to all manner of public services and public provision, slashing even the police and the armed forces to the bone.
Yet all those now contending to lead us make it clear that tax cuts are still their highest priority, AND that to pay for such tax cuts there must be yet more cuts in public services.
The fate of our crumbling country rests in the hands of some 200,000 Conservative Party members who will choose the fourth Tory prime minister in six years.
What we really need is not a new Tory at the top, but a complete change of government to tackle their toxic legacy.
Johnson’s lies and cavalier contempt for rules proved his downfall, just as they had propelled his rise