Boris Johnson’s Toxic Legacy
| Author | Peter Geoghegan |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/20419058221127463 |
| Published date | 01 September 2022 |
| Date | 01 September 2022 |
SEPTEMBER 2022•POLITICAL INSIGHT3
Boris Johnson’s
Toxic Legacy
In the last issue of 2021, I wrote here
about how Boris Johnson was viewed as
a lucky general by many of his supporters
but that there were signs that the Prime
Minister’s good fortune was beginning to
turn. I was writing in mid-November, not
long after Johnson’s ill-fated attempt to axe
Parliament’s standards watchdog in the wake
of the Owen Paterson scandal.
Barely eight months later, the Paterson aair
looked more and more like the beginning of
the end for the Johnson premiership. In July,
as scandals mounted up – from ‘partygate’ to
Chris Pincher – Johnson was defenestrated
following an unprecedented rash of
ministerial resignations.
Johnson evidently hoped to be able
to hang on – even as he announced his
intention to resign, he talked of his huge
‘mandate’ (drawing a comparison with a
certain thatch-haired former US President).
But in the end the scale of the Tory revolt was
too great, even for someone with Johnson’s
legendary thick skin.
The ministerial resignation letters that
preceded Johnson’s departure were peppered
with concerns about standards in public life.
But for many Conservatives the move against
the Prime Minister was prompted by electoral
anxieties: yes, Johnson won a ‘stonking’ 80-
seat majority in the 2019 General Election, but
in recent months the Tories had suered a
series of crucial by-election defeats, including
the once rock-solid Conservative seat of
Tiverton and Honiton in late June.
So, what kind of Tory party – and what kind
of country – will Johnson leave behind?
In this issue’s cover feature, Karl Pike
assesses Johnson’s tumultuous three years
as Prime Minister and nds scant evidence
of concrete achievements. ‘Levelling up’
remains more a slogan than a policy and even
Johnson’s famous ‘oven ready’ Brexit deal looks
less appealing with every passing row over
the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Reecting on Johnson’s legacy, David
Whyte argues that amidst all the scandals,
arguably the most important is the one for
which he will probably never be held to
account: the turbo-charged revitalisation
of UK oil and gas production. While Britain
talked tough at COP26, Johnson reopened the
North Sea and gave oil and gas multinationals
sweetheart deals. Meanwhile, anti-net zero
MPs have become increasingly inuential on
the Conservative backbenches.
It does seem tting that Johnson – a
politician who was said to have few
close allies in politics – has bequeathed a
Conservative Party seeking reinvention once
again. The Tory leadership campaign pitched
Johnson loyalist Liz Truss against Rishi Sunak,
who was widely blamed by party members
for bringing down Johnson, but neither have
demonstrated a clear vision for the country
beyond Thatcherite bromides.
The Conservative leadership contest
has focused attention on the role of party
members in choosing leaders – and prime
ministers. Should less than 200,000 Tory
members who are far from representative
of the general population get to select who
leads the country? In the regular Last Word
slot, Paul Webb argues that the time has
come to give party membership less say in
leadership contests.
Johnson leaves behind a country struggling
under the weight of spiralling ination and a
worsening cost of living crisis. Amid a summer
of strikes, Susan Milner looks back to previous
periods of industrial action to argue that
the current wave of strikes and threatened
stoppages is a product of deep imbalances in
the British economy.
September is the 30th anniversary of a
major moment in modern British politics:
the withdrawal from the Exchange Rate
Mechanism. Ben Williams looks back on
‘Black Wednesday’ and its impact over the
intervening decades. Elsewhere, Paula
Keaveney delves into British politics’ long
history of crucial ministerial resignations
and nds some striking similarities – and
divergences. Kate Dommett and Sam Power
delve into how British parties spend money in
elections.
One question facing the new Conservative
leader is how to position the party for the
next general election. Both Truss and Sunak
have tacked right during the leadership
campaign, promising a ‘war on woke’. But,
Ben Wellings and Zareh Ghazarian argue,
British Conservatives would do well to look
at the recent experience of the Liberal Party
of Australia, whose embrace of culture war
rhetoric contributed to a seismic election
defeat earlier this year.
Elsewhere in this issue, Katy Hayward
looks at the controversial Northern Ireland
Protocol and nds that diculties over the
Protocol are best understood as symptoms,
not causes, of the present danger to the Good
Friday Agreement. As the global population
hits eight billion, Benjamin D. Hennig argues
that the real challenge is declining global
populations, which could set the scene for
future conicts and crises.
The coming months bring some major
elections around the world. Against a
backdrop of the rollback of Roe v Wade, the
US holds midterm elections in November.
John E. Owens examines the political context
– and nds few reasons to be cheerful for
sitting President Joe Biden. Mahrukh Doctor
assesses the Brazilian election, a vote that
could have major regional – and global –
implications.
Boris Johnson might be gone, but there is
little sign of an end to the political turmoil.
Political Insight
will continue to deliver the
very best research, comment and analysis on
these turbulent political times.
Peter Geoghegan
Editor
Political Insight September 2022 BU.indd 3Political Insight September 2022 BU.indd 309/08/2022 12:5809/08/2022 12:58
Get this document and AI-powered insights with a free trial of vLex and Vincent AI
Get Started for FreeStart Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting