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If ever there was a moment when the UK needed competent and trustworthy leadership, it is now. Inflation is on course to reach 11 per cent; millions worry about their ability to make ends meet. Labour unrest is spreading. Sterling is sliding. A war is raging in Europe. Yet, mired in scandals around its leader, Boris Johnson’s government has for months been able to deliver only drift and disarray. After his health secretary and chancellor resigned, others followed in droves and several cabinet ministers told him he must go. The Johnson era is ending. It would have been better for the country if it had ended months ago.
Those beyond UK shores may puzzle over what might appear a paltry charge sheet against the prime minister. But a series of incidents have demonstrated a wanton disregard for rules and for the truth. This is a prime minister now revealed to have appointed a loyalist colleague to a sensitive party discipline role, despite being aware that an allegation of sexual misconduct had been upheld against his appointee. Ministers were dispatched to tell what turned out to be falsehoods on Johnson’s behalf.
This is a prime minister who permitted a culture of illegal partying in Downing Street when his country was locked down during a global pandemic — and was himself fined by police for attending one gathering. Yet he repeatedly assured parliament no regulations had been broken.
In affairs of state, this is a leader who behaved little more honourably. He sought to bend constitutional conventions and to override part of the exit agreement he himself negotiated with the EU. This readiness to break international law has sapped the UK’s reputation, undermining the positive impact of the leadership Johnson has shown on support for Ukraine.
As trust has ebbed away in the prime minister, so has the government’s ability to govern. After emerging from two years of pandemic, instead of moving forward with a coherent policy agenda and dealing effectively with the worst cost of living squeeze for a generation, Johnson’s cabinet has spent months firefighting one crisis after another. And as the prime minister’s support base has narrowed, he has found himself damagingly in thrall to rightwingers in his party. This wing applauded hints of tax cuts from Johnson’s new chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, though his predecessor, Rishi Sunak, rightly worried over the inflationary risks.
Sunak’s resignation letter warned of fundamental differences of approach with the prime minister, but spoke of the need for government to be conducted “properly, competently and seriously”. Sajid Javid, resigning as health secretary, used similar words — and told parliament he could no longer tread the “tightrope between loyalty and integrity”. Their statements seem at last to have galvanised a sense across their party that, despite his narrow victory in a confidence vote and desperation to cling on, Johnson must go.
The qualities to be hoped for in a successor are integrity and respect for rules and the law, a more pragmatic and serious approach to the EU — including the abandonment of contempt for international treaties — and a readiness to engage responsibly and decisively with the economic challenges confronting the UK. Several of the potential candidates fall short on at least some of these parameters. But the sorry state of today’s government means a change of premier can be postponed no longer.
Setting that process in train now means a new leader could be in place for the new parliamentary term in September. This is the right course for the Conservative party and the government. Above all, it is the right course for the country.
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