A liar, a schemer and a lawbreaker
GROPERGATE: HOW JOHNSON SHAMED BRITAIN
THERE are three certainties in politics: death, taxes and that Boris Johnson will let you down.
The flaws Tory MPs are now unable to stomach were there from the moment Johnson first stepped into public life.
The Conservatives knew he had been sacked as a journalist for inventing a quotation and was forced to resign as a shadow minister for lying about an affair.
They knew he was so untrustworthy he wrote two articles before the EU vote, one for Leave and one for Remain.
They witnessed dishonest tactics he used to win the poll – including claims £350million would go to the NHS each week instead of the EU – and saw him repeat the trick to win a general election.
They stood on the sidelines as he illegally prorogued Parliament and failed to speak up when he broke international law by ripping up the Northern Ireland Protocol. They defended his behaviour over Partygate, even though it was apparent to everyone he had known he was breaking lockdown rules.
It should not have been a surprise the PM behaved this way. Scheming and deceiving are hard-wired into his psyche.
Those who now feign disgust at his behaviour and deplore the damage he has done to the Tory Party once cheered the premier as he led them to their greatest election victory since the 1980s.
That was just 32 months ago. Johnson’s “Get Brexit Done” campaign and Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership delivered an 80-seat Conservative majority.
When the exit poll landed at 10pm on December 12, 2019, it was clear he was indeed the “Heineken Tory”, reaching parts of the country others could not.
Nearly 14 million people voted Conservative, with the party winning 43.6% of the vote share and 365 seats – a net gain of 47. Labour’s Red Wall was
demolished, with Tories seizing seats in the Midlands and North.
Humiliated, Corbyn quit while Johnson had total control over his party and delighted in predictions he would wield power for a decade. But the rot quickly set in.
In a sign of how Johnson would run his administration, he refused to sack Priti Patel when she was found to have breached the ministerial code for bullying – a decision that led to the resignation of his ethics adviser.
Four months after his election triumph, he locked down the country as the pandemic took hold – angering libertarian Conservatives.
The strictest peacetime curbs ever imposed on Britons’ freedoms stopped us going out more than once a day for exercise or to buy food.
Other MPs were furious he waited so long, allowing Covid to rampage unchecked. Vulnerable residents were sent from hospitals back to care homes without being tested for the virus. An estimated 20,000 died.
Johnson himself was struck down with Covid. Isolating in the Downing Street flat, his condition deteriorated and he was later admitted to intensive care where he almost died.
While he lay in his hospital bed, his approval ratings hit record highs, with 66% of voters saying he was doing well as PM.
But as the rest of us were shut in our homes, frightened of the disease and unable to see loved ones, a series of lockdown-busting parties were taking place in Downing Street.
The Mirror’s exposure of the events 18 months later would push the PM’s grip on office to the brink.
Each time he found himself in a corner, Johnson would announce another spending pledge, sparking clashes with his Chancellor and worrying MPs mindful of the Tories’ reputation for economic management.
Some £400billion was spent during the pandemic, including billions on PPE deals. Contracts were signed with Tory cronies fuelling sleaze claims. Details of specific deals are still being uncovered and could be unpicked in the courts.
But we know vast amounts of taxpayers’ cash was shovelled to firms with Tory links, sometimes for faulty gear. Tories who prioritise standards, probity and ethical behaviour were horrified – as they were about allegations over the funding for a £58,000 refurbishment of the Downing Street flat.
But only a few spoke out after Johnson lost his second ethics adviser in two years – Lord Geidt,.
To pile on the sleaze claims, the PM tried to block a 30-day suspension of MP Owen Paterson after a standards probe on his lobbying. He later quit.
The Liberal Democrats won his safe seat of North Shropshire – striking fear into conservatives with bigger majorities after the party previously lost the Buckinghamshire constituency of Chesham and Amersham to the Lib Dems.
This was the first sign the PM’s pact with his MPs was starting to unwind.
They agreed to turn a blind eye to his behaviour as long as he maintained his appeal at the ballot box. This deal came under further strain as they lost the Red Wall seat of Wakefield and the true blue Devonshire seat of Tiverton and Honiton.
The person they had thought was box office magic had become ballot box poison in the by-elections.
Trust was also running out. After each scandal, Johnson promised to mend his ways.
It has taken the Chris Pincher furore to confirm what many Tories had long suspected: he will never change.
They realised it was not a question of if there would be another scandal but when it would occur.
The PM’s conduct has finally caught up with him. The question many will be asking is why it took so long.
And the question the Tories will be asking is whether it is too late to reverse the harm he’s caused the party.
His conduct has finally caught up with him.. many will ask why it took so long