Tuesday, November 9, 2021

Former prime minister reprimanded the vassal style
Johnson’s Tory kicks off the storm

Perhaps it is this famous drop that brings the barrel to overflow: British Prime Minister Johnson saves a corrupt party ally from suspension. Suddenly the British are talking about his misconduct, luxury holidays and contempt for democratic rules.

“Shameful, false and unworthy” – these are the words used by former Conservative Prime Minister John Major to describe the behavior of the current government in Great Britain. There has been almost the same theme in the British media since last week: the conservative Tory Party and its relationship to the principles of democracy and the rule of law. It is about more or less obvious corruption, misuse of parliamentary majority to change the rules for their own benefit and lack of respect for law and truth. Boris Johnson almost got used to these allegations. There seemed to be nothing that could harm the white politician. But that may have changed now.

The barrel overflows in Johnson’s attempt to save a corrupt lawmaker from punishment. Owen Patterson was to be sentenced to a 30-day suspension from parliament for paid lobbying. But the prime minister did not want to admit it and decided to reverse the entire disciplinary process for lawmakers to make way for Patterson. The opposition just got outvoted.

Tory Reel Off: Storm in a Glass of Water

However, the plan was flawed: opposition parties refused to join the Tory-majority body that was supposed to shape the new rules. But it didn’t work completely without the fig leaf – the government had to turn. Patterson resigned, but the debate intensified, even as Environment Secretary George Eustice dismissed it as a storm in a glass.

In the eyes of Major, the actions of the Johnson administration in the Patterson case are not unique. Over the weekend the former BBC prime minister said conservatives had adopted a landlord style. “It has to stop, it has to stop soon,” said Margaret Thatcher’s former successor. He was particularly concerned about the government’s disregard for law and order, for example when parliament was shut down for several weeks in 2019 to prevent obnoxious legislation. Major also pointed to a planned violation of the Northern Ireland Protocol, which is binding under international law.

Does the “nice guys” theory still work?

Part of the problem is that there is no written constitution in Britain. With a simple majority, the foundation of democracy and the rule of law can theoretically be weakened. This does not happen, it is left to the principle of hope – also known as the “good-chapter model”. It is based on the assumption that most decision-makers will always advocate the principles of rule of law and democracy. But are Boris Johnson’s conservatives still the “good guys”? There is doubt about this now.

“Their strategy is to devalue the rules so that they no longer matter to anyone,” said opposition leader Keir Starmer during an extraordinary debate on the Patterson case about the prime minister. Johnson avoided criticism only by staying out of parliament. In fact, conservative party leaders themselves offer open ground when it comes to compliance with rules and standards of conduct.

Johnson continued to make headlines with false claims. For example, soon after the conclusion of the Brexit agreement, he declared that there would be no goods control between Great Britain and Northern Ireland as a result – knowing full well that this was what he had negotiated in the contract. Johnson is also not one to shy away when it comes to living up to his propensity for a lavish lifestyle. Soon after his election victory in December 2019, he and his partner traveled to the private Caribbean island of Mustique. A free luxury stay worth £15,000 was organized by an entrepreneur friend. At that time no violation of the rules of conduct was found. Johnson was reprimanded for simply failing to make the details of the deal more transparent.

Party colleagues pelted stones in the Upper House

As if that encouraged her, she recently took a free vacation at a friend’s luxury villa in Marbella, Spain. He had previously picked up his party colleague in the House of Lords after unsuccessfully applying for a seat in the House of Commons. Research by the “Sunday Times” suggests that gratitude can be taken for a lifetime membership in the House of Lords. Accordingly, 15 former treasurers of the Conservative Party donated three million pounds, the equivalent of 3.5 million euros, to the Tories – and gained a seat in the House of Lords at the behest of the government.

“This is almost the kind of behavior I would expect from the Moscow Duma or the Beijing People’s Congress, not the House of Commons,” Liberal MP Wendy Chamberlain said during Monday’s debate on government policy.