Unless you’ve been living happily under a rock, you’ll know that recent weeks in British politics have been relatively chaotic. Two months after partygate began, the prime minister is clutching precariously onto power, bolstered by his most devoted acolytes while others, even some of the hard-line traditionalists of the party, have not only denounced his leadership but have urged him to resign, and publicly.
Conservative MPs face a choice between integrity and loyalty
Whilst his removal would go some way to cleaning up the dissolute culture at number ten, the damage the Conservatives are doing to Britain reaches far beyond partygate. The Conservative machine is well oiled and party loyalty is its fuel. But when the so-called party of law and order debases the office to such a degree, one harsh truth remains for his followers: you can have integrity, or loyalty, but you cannot have both.
Since partygate began, the polls have shown that more and more voters are deserting the Conservative Party. As is so often the case, the once-popular characteristics that propelled Boris Johnson to number ten – his dishevelled appearance, his cavalier disregard for the rules and his ebullient performances in the House of Commons – have been thrown into sharp relief in the unforgiving light of high office.
Perhaps those people have concluded that his disregard extends to their lives and livelihoods, or noticed that under pressure in the House of Commons, his famous exuberance often turns to arrogance and impetuousness. Perhaps the callousness of those making the rules ignoring them so flagrantly has broken the spell and caused people to wake up to what the Conservatives are doing to Britain.
Unpleasant polling figures for Johnson and the Conservative Party
The Conservatives are no doubt hoping the story will wear itself out, but no amount of obfuscation will change the fact that Labour are showing as much as a 14-point lead in the polls.
The prime minister’s approval rating has dipped past that of Theresa May’s lowest score before her resignation and some of his MPs will fear that Johnson’s administration, now under formal police investigation, has passed the point of no return. According to a Metropolitan Police spokesperson, they are reviewing at least “300 photographs and 500 pages of information” that they received from Sue Gray in relation to the events.
The prime minister has come under such intense scrutiny for rule-breaking that it might be reasonable to assume his removal would heal the toxic unprofessionalism at the heart of government. While his gaffe-ridden tenure has debased the office of government arguably more than any other cabinet in history, it hasn’t been a one-man hit job.
The New Conservatives’ ability in Brexit-era Britain to unite and mobilise is undeniably effective. Arguments about the Labour leadership at the time aside, this unity – along with Johnson’s broad appeal and unconventional informality – helped to deliver them a huge majority with unprecedented victories in historic red wall seats.
What goes up, must come down
However, in politics as in physics, what goes up must come down. While Britain waits for the details of the police investigation to be made public, if in fact they are, Johnson’s premiership is at an impasse.
Without a natural successor lined up, it’s difficult to foresee what the modern Conservative Party might look like after Johnson. Despite vocal outrage from some of his backbenchers and speculation that Sir Graham Brady might be close to receiving the 54 letters of no confidence needed to trigger a leadership vote, Johnson’s cabinet and the new intake of red wall MPs remain a seemingly impenetrable machine. Loyalty appears to be a far more valuable commodity than integrity in this administration, with robotic party lines repeated ad infinitum in the face of any damaging allegations that surface.
Who can forget the leaked Whatsapp message from Johnson urging ministers to “form a square around the prittster” after Home Secretary Priti Patel was found by a Whitehall inquiry to have bullied staff. When footage emerged of the then health secretary Matt Hancock breaking coronavirus restrictions by having an affair with his aide, Johnson initially refused to take action against him, declaring that he “considered the matter closed”. Copied and pasted messages of support for whichever MP is under fire are posted in unison on Twitter by colleagues. In this administration, loyalty trumps integrity. Scandals are simply weathered and accountability is rare.
How far is too far?
With such a large majority, party allegiance is the Conservatives’ most valuable asset. But its troubling side is exposed by the account of Christian Wakeford, the MP for Bury South who recently defected to Labour, who claimed that party whips threatened to withdraw funding from his constituency if he refused to vote with the majority. This led Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey to remark that Johnson was “acting more like a mafia boss than a prime minister”.
The question this poses to Johnson’s backbenchers and cabinet is simply this: how far is too far? How low must this government stoop for integrity to finally win?
Whatever happens next to the Conservative Party, Labour mustn’t become complacent. Johnson is merely a particularly rancid symptom of a wider ranging rot. His removal would no more fix the dishonesty in the Conservative Party than if a flaming meteor hit the House of Commons.
It could even be argued that Johnson’s increasingly Trumpian approach to the truth is aiding the Conservative agenda by flooding the discourse with so much exhausting bluster that incredibly serious issues like anti-democratic amendments to the police, crime, sentencing and courts bill and voter suppression are falling by the wayside. While we wait for the results of the police investigation into partygate and the potential fallout among Tory backbenchers, Schrödinger’s prime minister remains both an asset and a liability.
Challenging the divide and conquer approach of the Conservative Party
But the draconian bills, culture wars, attacks on democracy and desecration of our national institutions being carried out by this government will go ahead with or without Johnson. Divide and rule is their modus operandi and personal gain and consolidation of power are their goals. The goal is not to govern, but to dominate, and it is in ruling by division that they are able to so freely neglect those most in need.
There is an inexhaustible amount of evidence to substantiate this neglect. The number of people requiring food bank parcels in 2008 was approximately 25,000. Under Tory austerity, this number rose to 2.5 million in 2021. The number of children living in poverty has risen by 500,000 in the last five years. Conservative apathy for those outside their circles has never waned. Labour must continue to remind the public doggedly of this government’s monstrous neglect of those most in need and show that beneath the cultural bluster, the consequences of the widening wealth gap are clear.
The home secretary’s inhumane approach to refugees, the chancellor’s national insurance hike and the mounting cost of living crisis, are running not within the sphere of Johnson’s leadership but parallel to it. The Conservatives are damaging our country and will continue to do so with or without him.
As such, Labour must continue to remind the public of the persistent corruption and cronyism at the heart of the Conservative government and present themselves loudly as a principled, honest alternative for when election season eventually comes around.
