SL: Problem of having too many Boris Johnsons

By Dr Upul Wijayawardhana

Three days before the former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson did his latest antic 09 June, jumping before being pushed out, I was at the 80th birthday party of a friend of mine who is a retired Paediatric Cardiologist responsible for taking a number of teams from Glenfield Hospital in Leicester, where he worked, to do heart surgery on children at the Karapitiya Hospital. It was a privilege to meet some of his colleagues who visited Sri Lanka; their dedicated voluntary service saved the lives of many of our children and paved the way for the setting up of Paediatric Cardiology services. Naturally, they inquired about Sri Lanka. Whilst reassuring that the seeds they had sown had borne fruit and cardiology services were doing well in Sri Lanka, I had to confess that the country was not doing too well. When asked why, I said, “We have too many Boris Johnsons among our politicians”. They laughed in unison when one quipped, “Totally charming but completely devoid of a conscience”. What an apt description of Boris Johnson and the majority of our politicians!

However, unlike most of our politicians Boris is clever but like some of our politicians he has a tremendous capacity to bounce back. Perhaps, his theme song should be “Rubber ball, I come bouncing back to you”, a 1961 song by Bobby Wee! He was born in New York and entered Oxford University through Eton College.

Through family connections he joined The Times newspaper as a graduate trainee but got the sack pretty quickly when it was discovered that he invented a quote falsely attributed to his godfather who was a historian! However, he managed to get into the leader-writing desk of The Daily Telegraph and his articles appealed to the newspaper’s conservative, middle-class, middle-aged “Middle England” readership. He was sent as their correspondent in Brussels, where he became a Eurosceptic.

His amusing and charming nature in spite of flippant attitude and popularity in some TV programmes facilitated his entry to parliament in 2001 but in 2004 was fired as Conservative’s shadow arts minister for lying about an affair. In fact, it is rumoured that he has had many. In 2016, he pulled out from the Conservative party leadership contest as he was stabbed in the back by his friend Michel Gove but was chosen foreign secretary by the eventual winner Theresa May. He quit her Cabinet in 2018 over her Brexit deal, ultimately ousting her to become PM. He led the Conservatives to a landslide election victory in 2019, mostly because the Labour party misjudged its voter-base’s preference for Brexit. Boris, undoubtedly, should be credited for delivering Brexit.

During the pandemic he gave good leadership but subsequently he was found to have violated his own lockdown regulations, and fined by the Metropolitan police for one offence. He was forced to quit as the prime minister in 2022, following a mass revolt by members of his Cabinet against his leadership, which was tainted by scandals including ‘Partygate’.

Boris always believed that his version of events was the truth which was the major cause of his undoing. In spite of obvious breaches, he assured the parliament, on many occasions, that no Covid regulations were breached during many parties held in Downing Street. Later his diary entries showed that he had entertained many, including family members, at his official residence Chequers in breach of Covid lockdown rules. This was in sharp contrast to the behaviour of late Queen Elizabeth, who sat diminutively in a corner well away from the family, at the funeral of her husband, complying strictly with regulations. Some of Boris’ excuses were totally lame; one time saying that nobody warned him that he was breaking rules. Surely, as the person who introduced the rules, he should have known better!

House of Commons Privileges Committee, a cross-party committee of senior MPs with a majority of government MPs, started an investigation as to whether he deliberately misled the Commons and, in his evidence, Boris insisted that he did not do so, maintaining it was inadvertent if he did so. Boris announced he was leaving parliament a day after seeing the advance copy of the committee report which, very likely, found him guilty.

In an explosive 1000-word statement, he called the committee a “kangaroo court”, whose purpose “has been to find me guilty, regardless of the facts”. By this, he has branded MPs, even of his own party as incompetent. Further, he attacked Rishi Sunak for not helping him. Perhaps, he expected Rishi to do a bit of white-washing to get him out of trouble! Boris seems to have inherited the same genes as our parliamentarians!!

Boris is charming but shameless. In his lengthy statement he blames everybody but himself and there is no hint of remorse. He seems to believe that rules do not apply to him. It will be an interesting game to start counting how many of our legislators fit these criteria: majority no doubt!

However, there is a vast difference between the UK and Sri Lanka. In the UK, even a former PM is answerable to his peers. He could have been found guilty of misleading the House and if suspended for a period exceeding 10 days, he may have to face a by-election. It is rumoured that the committee was likely to recommend a suspension of 20 days but it has to be voted on by the House. It is also rumoured that Boris tried to get the PM to influence government MPs to vote against, if a resolution was placed before the house, which Rishi has refused provoking Boris’ ire! Boris would have been safe in Sri Lanka: that is the difference!

Two MPs, who were expecting to be elevated to the House of Lords, on the basis of Boris’ resignation honours list have not been and they have resigned. Boris’ friends are accusing that the PM has interfered but PM’s office maintains that, as is the tradition, all names in Boris’ list have been forwarded unaltered and ‘The House of Lords Appointments Commission’ – the official body for checking and vetting new peers – has confirmed it rejected eight of Mr Johnson’s nominations on the grounds of propriety.

Though Rishi Sunak is daunted by the prospect of the loss of three seats at the by-election, which would have to be held soon, he may benefit in the longer term as he seems to have acted properly. Though Boris is threatening a comeback, it seems very unlikely!

We have too many Boris Johnsons who misuse parliamentary privileges in every possible way. They fight, shout filth, tell lies and sell their souls for cash but still remain ‘honourable’ MPs. No wonder, we are down in the dumps!