THE ECONOMIC TIMES

Analysing The Political Economy


BJ: The Tory Party Think This Is Their Best Bet

The news all over social media but not in the actual news media – either published or broadcast – that Boris Johnson’s lover at the time was caught administering oral sex whilst in his official office at the Foreign Office when an MP walked in demonstrates exactly the state of Downing Street today.

As one Tweet correctly put it yesterday – “There was actually a time when a woman performing a sex act on a married cabinet minister in his actual office, and him proposing her for a £100k role in running his department, was considered an ethical compromise too far. I guess that is ok now is it?”

It is not just the sleaze or the corruption, it’s the moral vacuum Boris Johnson created by his presence. Tories are seemingly dropping their like flies as they get caught red-handed sexually assaulting colleagues and constituents alike, as they stuff cocaine up their noses whilst vomiting litres of red wine up the walls of the great office of state. Unbelievably, all this or the constant lying, breaching of ministerial codes, lawbreaking or Partygate is seemingly not enough.

What is it that the Tories need done next to understand the damage they are doing to our country? Is it sexism, racism, philandering or lawbreaking from the Prime Minister or a cabinet that deliberately divides the nation with its populist tropes and pushing a culture war purely for votes? Is corruption, nepotism and cronyism – now so common as to encourage criminality in our own country and tinpot dictators around the world. It doesn’t seem to be so for the Tory party.

Boris Johnson is the epitome of everything this country was not – but now is. His third-term ambitions only show how deluded he is. It shows that the Tory party who, on balance, support him, are as obnoxious as he is. What’s worse, they clearly can’t see anyone better amongst their ranks to depose him. They think this awful creature who infects everything he touches is their best bet. Once regarded as ruthless but pragmatic, the Tory party truly is a nasty party, rotten to the core.

Decency, honesty and loyalty have been thrown out the window. And does it even matter that the basic principles of British public life – that the rule of law, respect, tolerance and even democracy are imperatives.

After twelve years of government, the Tory party has reduced this country to the bottom division. Once regarded as the bridge between the USA and EU, Britain is now merely an annoyance on the world stage. Its reputation is so damaged, it will take years, possibly a generation of hard work to repair.

So what next? Johnson, a whole-heartedly unprincipled individual who is unburdened by the responsibility of office will likely do something desperate simply to retain power. Is Tory HQ, who nobbled the Times Newspaper over the ‘Carrie’ story last week, now using the levers of power to get Durham police to fine Keir Starmer – and then instantly call a snap election? Or is Johnson now threatening his own backbenchers with a snap-election, knowing many will lose their seats (and livelihoods) if they went to the polls. This is indeed not just a rumour moving around parliamentary circles today.

Britain is in a full-blown political crisis, the likes never experienced in modern Britain. Anthony Eden’s Suez crisis, Edward Heath’s 1970s inflation crisis, Callaghan’s desperate loans from the IMF and the winter of discontent were all separate and distinct events. Today, we have a currency crisis, an economic downturn, Brexit, strikes, Ukraine, inflation, an energy crisis, public health crisis and a few others – all at the same time.

Instead of concentrating on developing policy, defending households from the storm and delivering anything tangible for the future – we have a government focused on a public relations crisis over the Prime Minister and oral sex! And yet, the Tory party as a whole think Johnson is their best bet for Britain’s future. It is this that makes Britain second rate in everything today. This.

 

 

 

 

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