No. 212 - Boris’s Reshuffle: Credit where Credit’s Due?
Dear James,
Credit where credit's due. You’ve done it James! Congratulations on becoming a junior justice minister or, technically speaking, a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State and Assistant Government Whip. I must say however, that I am not surprised. Over the last five or six years you have slavishly proved your loyalty to whichever Conservative Prime Minister has been in place. As far as I know you’ve never once stepped out of line and followed every zig-zag in three line whips no matter that the Conservative Party itself has morphed from a pro-Eu party under Cameron to a pro-Customs Union and Single Market Brexit party under Mrs May and now to a right wing, populist anti-EU government under Johnson. All in five years! No doubt you will ascribe such a bewildering transformation of political belief to your own extraordinary political wisdom. From out here though James, I can only explain it in a single phrase. Naked ambition. As I’ve said before you’re probably quite a decent guy at home. Your natural decency however does not translate well into this government. That is such a pity. And it is more of a pity since now you will have ministerial responsibility.
Loyalty in my view, while admirable in many cases, should never be subservient to principle. Ambition without principle is a dangerous road to follow and we have none other than your own current leader to vouch for that. He has trashed every Tory principle of integrity and public behaviour throughout his chequered career. While I have never accepted many Tory principles, I did value its once honoured insistence on principled behaviour - resignation when you failed in your area of responsibility, the honouring of international treaties, respect for the constitution and the law not to mention those aspects of private behaviour that many used to accept as gospel. His sniggering allusion to his wide knowledge of ‘delivery wards’ in today’s briefing was testament to the latter. I wonder how his many former partners and wives feel about that?
Boris I’m afraid is a ‘principles-free zone’ and this will cause men and women of honour to profoundly mistrust this person. Internationally he has already shown himself to be the least untrustworthy politician in the Western hemisphere. He is an egotistical opportunist for whom any kind of rule does not apply. His attempt to prorogue parliament two years ago is an example. His deceit in signing the Northern Ireland Protocol and his renunciation of it six months later is another. If this was not an act of desperate and cynical opportunism, designed to ‘Get Brexit Done’, I don’t know what is. Again, you’ll be called onto defend the indefensible in this diabolical act of political and national reputational sabotage.
The ‘wish list’ that Boris presented to that sorry band of Tory loyalists aka, ‘The new cabinet’, during his ‘half-term pep talk’ last week was hopelessly simplistic. But populism trades on its simplicity. It offers crowd pleasing remedies to complex modern problems. ‘Levelling up’ and ‘Build Back Better’ are still to be defined let alone executed. They are very likely to join that other long list of forgotten Tory slogans. Anyone remember Major’s ‘Back to Basics’?
First in your in-tray as Junior Justice Minister will be the assault on one of the foundations of our democracy, namely Judicial Review. These changes will allow some government decisions and actions to become un-challengeable by the public. In some cases, no remedy would be available to correct the situation even when government has acted unlawfully. I look forward to your defence of this particular outrage. The new Public Order Bill will be another attack on our democratic rights. The new ‘noise trigger’ is disproportionate and should be removed. No chance of that from a Boris loyalist!
You’ve done well James but just stand back and look at the context in which you have ‘done well’. Your colleagues are largely mediocre politicians fired up by Brexit but hopeless in running government. Liz Truss the new Foreign Secretary has been promoted because of her ‘success;’ as International Trade Minister. The UK-Australia FTA (Free Trade Agreement) adds just 0.01 to 0.02%.to our GDP in ten years, The Japanese FTA is similar adding a mere 0.07 % to UK GDP. That’s compared to the 5% loss on GDP due to our leaving the EU customs union and single market. Well done Liz Truss! Hope you’ll do better as Foreign Secretary.
I don’t wish to rain on your parade today James but Boris has again rewarded loyalty rather than experience and competence in his cabinet reshuffle. You have now entered a Faustian pact in which you will have to subsume whatever personal values you may have to one of the most shambolic and dishonest governments this nation has ever seen. When Johnson is finally ‘found out’, his will not be the only scalp to be taken. Be warned. His loyal followers will be carried away in the same tumbril!
Kind regards,
Your Concerned Constituent