Boris Johnson has resigned. Innumerable poor decisions as Prime Minister built up increasing outrage against Johnson throughout his time in office. From the early pandemic failures (missing emergency ‘Cobra’ meetings, allowing Covid-19 to run rampant through nursing homes, refusing to test at airports), to the botched negotiations to free Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, to accusations of corruption, Britons have long endured a Conservative government specialising in failure.
But it’s perhaps a surprise that, of all of Boris Johnson’s missteps, the straw that broke the camel’s back was not the notorious Partygate scandal. Instead, it was a less publicised scandal that played out largely within Westminster that finally finished off Johnson’s political career.
‘The Ruinous Consequences of Easy Applause’
Johnson’s appeal to Conservative Party politicians and members has always been his ability to deliver votes. He routinely polled above his party and, despite London’s leftward trend, managed to seize the Mayoralty twice. In addition, he played a decisive role in the 2016 Brexit referendum as the socially-acceptable figurehead of Vote Leave. Even now, Johnson maintains a devout fanbase of people enamoured by him and his charm.
After helping to orchestrate the downfall of Theresa May, Johnson took over as Prime Minister in July 2019. His appeal was quite simply that, if the Conservatives wanted to continue to win, he knew how to do it—or, at least, he was able to do it. Johnson’s pitch was strongman leadership, low issue complexity, and hyper aggression towards opponents.
This strategy was one that captured the largest majority for the Conservatives in over 30 years in the December 2019 general election. However, while it might have been a strong cocktail for winning elections, it proved weak for good governance. Here, he began a series of missteps that demonstrated he simply wasn’t prepared for politics as Prime Minister. In order to ‘Get Brexit Done,’ he committed to a deal seen universally as worse than his predecessor’s. He was forced into U-turn after U-turn over Covid-19 lockdowns. He even ended up changing the ministerial code because of the level of dishonesty his premiership fostered. In pursuit of every convenient headline and denying the obvious reality of the pandemic, Johnson’s catalogue of mistakes is, in hindsight, both predictable and stupefying.
And, just as the country was emerging from the worst aftermath of the pandemic, Johnson was hit with the Partygate scandal. News outlets reported in December 2021 that Johnson and government ministers had blatantly violated their own Covid-19 lockdown rules to hold several social gatherings in No 10. By January 2022, the Metropolitan Police in London declared an investigation into these incidents to determine whether laws had been broken. As a result, Johnson’s popularity plummeted, with 73% of Brits in January 2022 agreeing he was doing badly as Prime Minister. The Partygate scandal culminated in a leadership vote within the 1922 Committee to oust Johnson on June 6. Nonetheless, a sufficient contingent of loyal Tories stuck by Johnson, allowing him to just barely scrape by and remain Prime Minister.
The Straw that Broke the Camel’s Back
It’s clear Johnson has failed Britain on multiple fronts. His downfall was triggered by his failing of Westminster and his own Tory MPs within the Conservative Party.
While the 1922 Committee vote no doubt signalled the ‘beginning of the end’ for Johnson, the failure that took down his leadership was the recent Chris Pincher scandal. Chris Pincher, a Tory MP, was made Deputy Chief Whip by Johnson this past February despite allegations of sexual harassment against him. Another accusation of sexual harrassment arose against Pincher in June, leading to his resignation. Although on July 1, Johnson denied knowing of any sexual harrassment claims against Pincher at the time of his promotion in February, Downing Street admitted three days later on July 4 that Johnson had indeed been aware of these allegations. This admission drew ire among Tory MPs who had been instructed to deny when speaking to the media that Johnson had this prior knowledge. His ministers, thus, were sent out unprepared, hampered by the leader they sought to defend.
For the Tory MPs that remained loyal to Johnson during the Partygate leadership vote, disrespecting the UK public was not enough to justify his ousting. But disrespecting his own ministers—that was a step too far. Johnson had lied to his own MPs and also gotten them to lie to the public, therefore embarrassing them to their constituents. Dishonesty might be a useful political tactic, but to use it against your own side shows a fundamental lack of respect. As leader of the Tories, his priority was to keep members of his own party safe—not to put his own survival ahead of their own. For, in government, these two are not always the same thing.
The Future of a Collapsed Party
Johnson’s insistence on holding out on resigning until it was unavoidable has clearly damaged the Tory Party. With ministers and backbenchers forced to derail their own government, the Tories are left divided, with no obvious successor in sight.
Johnson oversaw the greatest decline in public standards we have seen. From his attempted illegal prorogation of parliament, to the corrupt financial dealings of NHS contracts, to his drawn out resignation, Johnson has pushed the boundaries further than any former prime minister. And still recovering from their massive expenses scandal, Conservative politicians are now reckoning with how they can once again become the so-called party of reliable governance and traditional values.
What this means in practical terms, however, is unclear. Electing a new leader will be insufficient to restore a culture of adhering to public standards. Instead, Conservative politicians should seek a complete change in their parliamentary organisation. These could include Liaison Committee Chair Sir Bernard Jenkins’s proposal of an independent mental health service for parliamentarians or expanded disciplinary powers for the Speaker.
Whatever happens next, two things are clear. First, there is a desperate need for change in Westminster. And, second, it is now up to the parliamentary Conservative Party to decide what that change will be.