Boris Johnson leaves behind a more corrupt and less united Britain

He bet on our future and we lost a lot. Labour must restore trust in politics

July 3, 2024 11:46 a.m.(Update 1:25 p.m.)

Boris Johnson waited until a Conservative Party rally in Chelsea on Tuesday night to make his belated campaign debut, looking very much like Worzel Gummidge, but his shadow has loomed over it all along. Our national destiny was sealed by a decision he made eight years ago in his own interests, on that infamous day in the spring of 2016 when he wrote two columns, one in favour of remaining in the European Union, the other in favour of leaving. He knew full well the disastrous consequences of Brexit (which he wrote about in his Remain version) but supported it anyway. Ever the thrill-seeker, Johnson chose to gamble the country’s future in order to strengthen his own.

The gamble paid off for him, of course, and he was eventually propelled into Downing Street as he had hoped. But the rest of us lost a lot. Johnson’s act of crass selfishness, neither the first nor the last, plunged the country into a storm of deceit, decadence and division that continues to this day. He showed our political classes that it was no longer a question of whether a decision or direction was good or bad for our lives and livelihoods, but simply whether it helped him win. For good old Boris and his ilk, politics is just a game.

The eldest son of a fiercely competitive family, Boris Johnson has been conditioned since birth by the playing fields of Eton to believe that beating everyone else is the only thing that matters. And unfortunately, wherever he goes, fearful and irresponsible political wannabes follow, encouraged by political commentators who thrive on tough times rather than the harder business of governing. Boris Johnson has made headlines, just as his political cousin Nigel Farage is also endlessly celebrated. Neither actually does anything useful, they simply jostle for position.

But to bet against the truth, one must be wrong. Thus began the normalisation of lying that has infected British public life and left it, and especially the Conservative Party that Johnson once led, in a dire situation today. Johnson’s supporters and even many of his detractors, who should have known better and cared more about their country, took note of how his Brexit campaign was successful through deception. Millions of Turks were on their way! Billions of pounds would be poured into the NHS! The rights to live, study and work in the EU would be protected! Britain would become truly global!

None of this was true, but the lies hit home (today’s political Holy Grail) and so the country narrowly and disastrously opted for Brexit. Inspired by the slogan Get Brexit Done, it went on to win a landslide majority at the polls in 2019. But of course, Brexit is far from over and never will be. This was another victory over deception.

But it is not to be assumed that Johnson’s toxic legacy has died with his political downfall, whatever happens on Thursday. Rishi Sunak’s election campaign, which distorted the truth, is a genetic twin of Johnson’s campaign in 2019. The man who promised integrity and accountability when he became prime minister clearly believes that simply uttering such noble words will make a difference and secure victory in the face of constant and obvious violations.

And so the Tories spout nonsense about Labour’s 2,000 tax increases, the end of the nuclear deterrent or attacks on motorists and pensions. And that’s without mentioning Sunak’s claims to solve the small boat problem (when the number of boats is increasing), to reduce NHS waiting lists (when they are getting longer) or to cut taxes (when they are at their highest level in 70 years). In this febrile post-Johnson era, few people discuss real ways of alleviating the misery of refugees or the sick. Johnson has also managed to drive compassion out of public life, but they simply talk about how empty statements or promises will play with voters.

In this game, the referees are mostly powerless or mute. The police stood by during the Covid-19 period, when Johnson’s Downing Street became a grotesque violator of its own rules, and reacted only belatedly, spurred on by courageous whistleblowers and a handful of tenacious journalists. The public outrage was immense, but in fact the penalties were minimal: the 50 fines imposed on the prime minister, the chancellor of the exchequer and senior civil servants were dwarfed by the hundreds, if not thousands, of pounds that others, far less culpable, had to pay.

This transgressive culture is now deeply ingrained and scandals are therefore our constant companion. The latest, in which five Conservatives are being investigated for suspicious betting on the date of the general election, began again in Downing Street with Sunak’s closest parliamentary aide. Clearly, Johnson is not the only Conservative who enjoys a joke.

Johnson’s legacy is not just one of lack of integrity, but also one of lack of competence. Expertise is the enemy of deception and Johnson has successfully driven out the experienced, the questioners and the know-it-alls to continue playing the game. Or as his former self-appointed stooge and serial ex-minister Michael Gove put it: “We’ve had enough of experts.”

In Johnson’s country, briefings were for losers, meetings for the sad. Prime Minister Johnson, we are now told, was busy writing his book on Shakespeare even as Covid began to take its toll. Actors in his world earn points simply by attracting attention with amusing or, more effectively, offensive or ridiculous speeches or behaviors.

Diligent, sensible, rule-abiding people are marginalised as boring or obstructionist. Without Johnson’s groundwork, Liz Truss’s reckless and ruinous economic experiment, which caused markets to crash, mortgage rates to explode and the entire pensions industry to almost collapse, would not have been possible. The disaster of her brief reign was indeed Johnson’s legacy, as was his astonishing lack of humility about it.

At this late hour, there are reassuring signs that Labour is searching for a new politics, one in which play is replaced by what Starmer calls public service. Some commentators, of course, criticise him for being boring. To which he rightly replied that if people want a circus, they should watch Farage’s campaign in Clacton.

We wait and see whether he will be as tough as he promises on offenders within his own party, particularly his close allies. After all, he is not entirely immune from playing the game. The respected Institute for Fiscal Studies chides both Labour and the Conservatives for their conspiracy of silence on the inevitable tax rises needed for vital NHS improvements. The validity of Starmer’s promise to deliver the fastest growth in the G7 without joining either the single market or the customs union is also seriously questioned.

Few of us doubt the need for Labour to get rid of a Tory government that has ravaged the nation for far too long. But victory must not be on Johnsonian lines. Starmer must show leadership on the economy, clean water and decent public services, and a demonstrably better standard of political living. Otherwise, the unfortunate result of all this will be a growing and dangerous cynicism about democracy as a whole. And an even bleaker future.

Sonia Purnell's new book, Kingmaker: Pamela Churchill Harrimans Astonishing Life of Seduction Intrigue & Power, is out in September