Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson stepped down as leader of the Conservative Party yesterday, making way for a new prime minister, following an avalanche of resignations by members of his party that eroded his authority and paralyzed the British government.
Speaking to a crowd of supporters and onlookers at the lectern outside 10 Downing Street, Johnson said, “It is clearly now the will of the parliamentary Conservative Party that there should be a new leader of that party and therefore a new prime minister.”
Johnson did not become emotional, nor did he apologize for the behaviour that brought the 58-year-old politician to this low point.
Instead, he blamed his party for his downfall, comparing his fellow lawmakers to stampeding animals. “As we have seen at Westminster … when the herd moves, it moves. And my friends, in politics, no one is remotely indispensable,” Johnson said.
There will be no general election. Instead, the next leader of Britain will be chosen in a vote by dues paying members of the Conservative Party, which will remain in power. Johnson said he would serve until a new leader is in place, which could take six weeks or longer. He appointed a new Cabinet of officials to replace all the ministers who had abandoned him, while pledging not to “implement new policies or make major changes of direction.”
Sad to give up
Johnson paid tribute to his wife, Carrie, who was watching his speech with their young daughter in her arms. Johnson said they had been through “so much,” but he did not signal any of it was his fault.
“I know there are many people who are relieved, and perhaps quite a few who will also be disappointed. I want you to know how sad I am to be giving up the best job in the world. But them’s the breaks,” Johnson said.
In the end, it wasn’t a policy failure that ended his premiership. It wasn’t a money scandal involving dodgy deals or crony contracts. It wasn’t really a lack of vision. What did in Johnson was his constant bobbing, weaving and ducking. His dissembling. His prevarications over a series of scandals — coronavirus lockdown parties, the refurbishment of his official apartment and the appointment of an ally accused of sexual misconduct.
‘Enough is enough’
His fellow Tories expressed not disappointment in Johnson, but disgust.
“Enough is enough,” said outgoing health minister and leadership contender Sajid Javid. “I have concluded that the problem starts at the top and I believe that it is not going to change.”
Johnson’s Cabinet ministers were sick of being shoved in front of the cameras to tell fibs on morning TV news shows — only to find out hours or days later that Johnson and his aides hadn’t told them the full truth. With Johnson there was always another shoe to drop.
Although it is not uncommon in British politics for a prime minister to stay on until the selection of their successor — Theresa May remained in place for about two months in 2019 — some lawmakers and party grandees warned that Johnson was soiling the party brand and that he was too damaged to stay in office through the summer.
“The proposal for the prime minister to remain in office — for up to three months — having lost the support of his cabinet, his government and his parliamentary party is unwise, and may be unsustainable,” wrote former prime minister John Major.
Dominic Cummings — Johnson’s former top aide and now chief critic, who helped his boss win the Brexit referendum and get elected — warned that the prime minister needed to go now. In a tweet, he urged the Conservative Party to “Evict TODAY or he’ll cause CARNAGE.”
Cummings said Johnson even now is “playing for time” and will try to stay on if he’s allowed to remain in office until the fall. “He doesn’t think it’s over,” he said, speculating that Johnson is plotting and thinking, “ ‘I can still get out of this, I got a mandate, members love me, get to September.’ ”
Downfall
In his downfall, some might forget that just a few years ago, Johnson was flying high. A former mayor of London and newspaper columnist, he was the rock star of his party. His speeches at the annual Conservative Party convention were standing room only. People lined up hours beforehand to get in.
Johnson was known to have a loose relationship with the truth. He was sacked from the Times of London for making up a quote in 1988 — before making a name for himself as a Brussels correspondent for the Telegraph with exaggerated and inaccurate dispatches. In 2004, he was fired from a leadership post in the Conservative Party after he lied about having an affair. Using typical Johnsonian language, he initially dismissed the claims as “inverted pyramid of piffle” before other evidence emerged.
And yet even if they didn’t completely trust him, his fellow Tories loved him. Yes, he was thrice married, with six or so children — he regularly dodged the question. But he wasn’t a scold, he was a libertarian. He could drink a pint, eat a sausage, tell a joke. He played to nationalist sentiments as he bashed the European Union and promised to “unshackle” Britain.
And most importantly, he was election gold, winning the party a record-breaking 80-seat majority in 2019, with talk of a coming “Tory Era,” with the party — and Johnson — in power for a decade or more.
While his unraveling seemed to happen at a dizzying pace, analysts said it had been underway for some time. Last month, Johnson only narrowly won a vote of confidence in his leadership, with 41 percent of his party saying he was unfit to govern. The Conservative Party’s polls have slipped to levels that suggests they would lose a majority at the next election. Remarkably, Johnson was even booed at an event for the queen’s jubilee, by the kind of pro-royal crowd that would typically be supportive of a Conservative leader.
No more asset?
Johnson is hardly the first Conservative leader to have been shoved aside by his party, which is famous for ditching its leaders quickly when they are no longer assets. Even Winston Churchill resigned — after being given a gentle push — as his health declined in his later years.
Among recent Conservative prime ministers, Johnson is a rarity in that he wasn’t felled over the question of Britain’s relationship with Europe. May, David Cameron, Major and Margaret Thatcher were all ousted in part because they could not get their party, let alone the country, to agree on how closely tied Britain and the continent should be.
Brexit was Johnson’s signal achievement, for better or worse, still to be determined. He convinced the British people to leave the European Union and its regulatory alignment, customs union and single market‚ and as prime minister he delivered on his promise to “get Brexit done.” The public may be tired of the endless debate on the topic, but Johnson’s vision of a swashbuckling free trading nation with a global booming economy — welcoming to the “best and brightest” immigrants — has not yet been realized. Nor has Brexit been that bad.
Credit: The Washington Post
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