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The Observer: ‘Boris Johnson faces ‘serious questions’ over new business with Uranium entrepreneur. Former prime minister also under fire for hiring ex-aide Charlotte Own as VP despite her lack of energy sector experience’
Carol Cadwalladr, The Observer, September 8 2024
How many of us read that headline and think ‘nothing will happen. He always gets away with it. THEY always get away with it’? Is it any wonder that millions are convinced that integrity in politics is dead and that there’s one rule for them, and another for us? Corruption, cronyism and lying all pay – when you’re in a position of power.
How many ‘serious questions’ have Conservative politicians from the last 14 years had to answer and how many times did it result in serious consequences? You know the answer. It’s infuriating, frustrating and, more importantly, hugely corrosive for our already enfeebled democracy.
Johnson is a serial rule-breaker and consequent recipient of ‘serious questions’ to which he invariably gives flippant or unsatisfactory answers – with zero consequence.
He has had to be asked ‘serious questions’ on multiple occasions: cuts to fire stations and services when he was London mayor, just one of a catalogue of controversy from his time as mayor (the bridge that never was, the water cannons, Lebvedev, Boris island; Jennifer Acuri etc, etc, etc); Brexit lies; lockdown parties; his private meeting with an ex-KGB agent in Italy without his security detail; his resistance to releasing the Russia Report; this bit of sleaze:
‘Boris Johnson is facing questions over his backing for a Tory donor’s pet project while at the same time asking him for help to pay for a designer revamp of his Downing Street flat.
‘Text messages published on Thursday show the PM asking Lord Brownlow to clear spending on the renovations as the flat was “a bit of a tip”.
He told Lord Brownlow he would take action on his “great exhibition plan”.’
BBC
Most egregious of all was his persistent failure to give straight answers in the Covid inquiry and his COBR absences, selective amnesia and insultingly risible WhatsApp deletion fiasco. And why IS Charlotte Owen a life peer, exactly? Why can’t we know?
The list goes on. Does it matter now that he’s out of Westminster? Well, yes. There must be consequences if society is to hold together.
He’s not the only one, of course. Take Robert Jenrick (PLEASE!). ‘Honest Bob’ of the entirely ironic moniker, has suffered no consequences as a result of this:
Robert Jenrick admits deliberately helping Tory donor avoid £45m tax bill by rushing through housing development
Housing minister says his actions on the Westferry scheme were consistent with ‘natural justice’
The Independent
He calls it ‘natural justice’. Everyone else would call it corruption.
He did not get asked ‘serious questions’ about the horror we wrote about in the article below, but he should have done:
Kemi Badenoch hacked into Harriet Harman’s website – a ‘foolish prank’. Imagine if you or I did that in our workplace? Consequences? You betcha! None of them good!
Liz Truss. Fizz with Liz. Undeclared. A mere bagatelle compared with crashing the economy through ideologically-driven idiocy…so without consequence that she believes herself to be in the right. Still. OK, she had to resign, but she continues to swan about on the far-right jabber and poison circuit and blithely spews out her nonsense for a squillion a minute.
David Cameron: Greensill!! He became the company’s advisor in 2018 and made $10m dollars before Greensill Capital collapsed, leaving investors and taxpayers to foot the bill for the losses. He was ‘investigated’, but ticked off as having made ‘an error of judgement.’ And then he gets made a life peer and foreign secretary! Consequences? Nah. They’re for the little guy.
Grenfell. Grenfell. Grenfell.
As David Osland wrote:
“Lord Pickles’ role in the deregulation that allowed Grenfell Tower should see him play no further part in framing Britain’s laws. Unfortunately, he’s an unelected legislator for life.”
The imagination of many was captured by the notion of a corruption tsar to investigate the Covid scandals (the VIP lane, Michelle Mone etc) but I suspect a lot of us would like to see the net cast wider.
Why should people with power get away with stuff? It has to stop or the decline in trust in politics will just carry on. Disengagement will enable more abuse. Enough is enough.
