Tories must stop tearing themselves apart
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Whatever lies ahead for Mr Johnson now that he is leaving Parliament, his place in history is secure. He is the Prime Minister who made Brexit happen. He put Britain at the forefront of support for Ukraine in its moment of crisis. Crucially, he has been a trailblazing – if often controversial – Conservative leader. His career in elected office proved Toryism could still offer a uniting, aspirational message, and reach parts of the country written off by less gifted politicians.
Among the many good things he achieved, seeing off the threat of Jeremy Corbyn as Prime Minister will always deserve the nation’s gratitude. For all the economic threats and geopolitical challenges the United Kingdom now faces, things would have been immeasurably worse, at home and abroad, under the socialist impulses of a Corbynite administration. He also spoke up for the City when he was Mayor of London at a time when other Tories had resorted to anti-capitalist demagogy.
Brexit, however, will always define Johnson’s legacy, and rightly so. His decision to spearhead the campaign to leave the EU helped secure its narrow victory margin. As Prime Minister, he then pushed an exit deal over the line where Theresa May had failed three times, despite an astonishing Remain alliance determined to cancel the results of the referendum. Many people contributed to achieving Brexit, but it is fair to say that without Mr Johnson’s help, it might never have become a political reality.
It is a shame, therefore, that his career is ending, “at least for now”, in such a sorry way. Irreconcilable Remainers aside, those in his party who celebrate his demise are being tragically short-sighted. Despite his many flaws, when it comes to the ballot box, Johnson was a man with the Midas touch. Winning two terms as Mayor of London, in a city seen by many as a no-go area for Tory hopefuls, was a remarkable achievement. He then wooed a very different audience in 2019, leading the Conservatives to a startling victory, one that left them with the biggest majority since Margaret Thatcher. Too many of those rejoicing on his premature departure from frontline politics have forgotten this crucial point.
Yet in office, and with Brexit secure, Johnson’s touch seemed almost immediately to desert him. Taking the vital next step and making a success of Brexit, by seizing its opportunities, proved a challenge too far. He signed up to HS2 and massive spending increases. Waylaid by the global catastrophe of Covid, he was overly influenced by pro-lockdown forecasters and the example of other, more authoritarian countries, and ended up ruining the economy.
His huge majority was squandered, the disastrous Whitehall bureaucracy left unreformed, and he spent too much time chasing Net Zero and a form of environmentalism at odds with his pro-progress, pro-growth positions. Delivering for the new coalition of voters he had pioneered remains a work in progress.
No doubt part of the problem was Mr Johnson’s own personality, more suited to the poetry of the campaign trail than the dull prose of daily government. Yet there can be no doubt that he also suffered from the burning resentment of the Remain establishment. The technocrats who saw Brexit as a populist uprising against all good sense blamed Johnson as its mastermind. The idea lingered that by purging one man from the body politic they could somehow return to the status quo ante.
Now he is leaving Parliament, many question marks remain over the process that led to Johnson’s ousting. The behaviour by some in Number 10 during the Covid pandemic was shocking. It has rightly infuriated many of those who followed the rules themselves, often at tremendous personal cost. It was therefore essential that the investigation into his conduct by the Privileges Committee was not only impartial, but seen to be impartial. In that latter point, it seems to have failed.
As Jeremy Brier KC points out in these pages, in a quasi-judicial setting, there should not be any reasonable suspicion by a fair-minded and informed person that the judges were not impartial. Yet while the committee had a Tory majority, it was one made up of MPs sharply critical of Boris. The former chairman Chris Bryant recused himself for having made public comments pre-judging the case. But he was then replaced by Harriet Harman, who reports suggest had also tweeted about Partygate.
Nevertheless, as things stand the Conservative party appears to be heading for an electoral nightmare. Recent polls suggest a Labour landslide could be on the cards. Some Conservatives believe a spell in opposition would be good for them. Yet that attitude is a dereliction of duty to the country. There is a great ideological battle raging for the heart of the nation. At stake are not just the usual, vital questions of economic responsibility but also those of national identity – including the ability to name our history and heroes without apology – and even of biological reality.
Labour may no longer be run by Jeremy Corbyn, but Sir Keir Starmer would undoubtedly shift the country to the Left. His party remains wedded to disastrous ideas on tax, the economy, class warfare, environmentalism and cultural issues. The Tories need to fight, not simply give up. They must stop destroying each other and remember who their real opponents are. Johnson had a gift for unifying the country behind the Conservatives. Now the party must stop tearing itself apart and focus on what matters.
