Dear Jesse
Our country is at a dangerous point in its history. Boris Johnson is a uniquely unfit person to be prime minister, but he is just the tip of the problem. It goes much deeper. The Tory party is split. Most of the able people who were once Conservative MPs have left the party, and are now its fiercest critics.
Anna Soubry recently tweeted that “Boris Johnson and his cronies have made law breaking, lying and cover-ups the new norm. Something very wrong and bad has happened to politics in our country. Even half decent Conservative MPs cower in the shadows refusing to despatch their disgraced leader. Truly dreadful times.”
Rory Stewart, writing in the Financial Times said “Boris Johnson is a symptom of a much broader problem in British politics – which can only be fixed with new policies and – almost certainly – new political parties and a new electoral system”
Boris Johnson’s Savile slur against Sir Keir Starmer was intended to provoke a violent mob, and in true Trumpian style it did. Even Tory loyalists were outraged. Sir Roger Gale tweeted: “Grim scenes outside Parliament today and disgraceful treatment of Sir Keir Starmer.” Tobias Ellwood told Mr Johnson to “apologise please”, adding: “Let’s stop this drift towards a Trumpian style of politics from becoming the norm.”
Boris Johnson has inflicted damage across every part of British Society. When he famously said “Fuck business” he really meant it. Farming, fishing, industry and trade are all in chaos: so too the NHS and education. All this may represent opportunities for Rees-Mogg and the disaster capitalists, but for the vast majority of the UK population it is a total disaster. Your local constituent, Mark E Thomas has carried out extensive research on the damage being done.
Society is fighting back. Court actions against the government are many. No doubt this year will see much street protest about countless issues. The climate and ecological crisis spins ever further out of control and the current cabinet care not a jot. BP effectively pays no tax while receiving huge subsidies to make the situation worse and UK citizens have to pay high prices for energy while the companies rake off vast profits. People are furious.
One of the heroes of our times is Dr Julia Grace Patterson (founder and Chief Executive Officer @EveryDoctorUK ) and she tweeted “Dear Conservative MPs: What’s the line Boris Johnson is going to have to cross for you to accept that he is dangerous?”
Jesse, I see from your website that you are keeping your head down, neither critical nor supportive of Boris Johnson. As with Brexit you remain noncommittal. A saying that is often attributed to your old hero Edmund Burke states that “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
Boris Johnson is reported to have said it would take a tank division to get him out of Downing Street. He may actually mean it. His upcoming legislative programme edges ever closer to something like the Enabling Act of March 1933, which entrenched Nazi control in Germany. The judiciary, the BBC, Parliament and many of the other necessary checks and balances are under attack. In the Weimar Republic many politicians thought that they could keep their heads down and the monstrosity that was Nazism would collapse before it did too much damage. They were wrong. They missed the window of opportunity when they could have spoken out and prevented all that followed. Now is surely the time for you to speak out and denounce Boris Johnson and his wretched cabal.
- For more on Pathocratic leaders, see this from Psychology Today