This bit of news felt more and more inevitable as time went on. It felt like Boris Johnson's fairly brief - but very eventful - term in office as British Prime Minister was riddled with scandal, almost from the first. Still, he was Prime Minister during some of the most significant episodes in recent British history. He had risen to prominence as the former mayor of London, and a major champion of Brexit. After Theresa May failed to deliver the actual Brexit, in came Johnson, promising to break the gridlock and deliver a more favorable Brexit. Indeed, favorable or not, it came to pass. Then came the coronavirus lockdown, which came to be a global crisis. Finally, he was the sitting British Prime Minister at the end of the pandemic, and the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which became the new crisis in Europe, something somewhat akin to September 11th for many Europeans.
As already mentioned, however, his term - just shy of three years on this day when he resigned his party leadership, but for now remains the sitting Prime Minister - was filled with scandals. His promises of a wonderfully accommodating and favorable Brexit for his nation were not as easy and fruitful as he promised it would be. He refurbished 10 Downing Street, had numerous controversies regarding contracts for which he was accused of cronyism during the pandemic. Then, while he urged his citizens to wear masks and stay home during the pandemic, he himself showed a remarkable sense of entitlement and exceptionalism when photos emerged of him attending a party during the national shutdown, a controversy which came to be known as "Partygate." He became the first Prime Minister to be sanctioned for breaking the law, breaking the coronavirus protocols. Still, he survived a vote of no confidence, albeit not by much. Finally, his role in the Chris Pincher sex controversy probably proved to be the straw which broke the camel's back. He seemed to want to alter the law to accommodate Pincher, which many people viewed as him overstepping his authority and showing actually more authoritarian tendencies than other Prime Ministers. In protest against this, some of his ministers began to resign in recent days, culminating in over 50 ministerial resignations by earlier this morning. After that, it came as no huge surprise that Johnson finally did indeed resign. Some might suggest that he resigned in disgrace, although there are still Johnson supporters in the country.
One aspect of Johnson's rise to the top political office in Britain were almost constant comparisons to Donald Trump. While I myself would likely not exactly be considered a supporter of Johnson, it seemed to me that these comparisons were a little unfair. Like him or hate him, Johnson felt a lot more intelligent and nowhere near as outlandishly egotistical, or as transparently willing to lie, as Trump always proved to be. True, the fact that they were both in power at the same time (for about a year and a half) and bore a passing resemblance to one another at first glance reinforced these comparisons. But I do not think it is quite as disgraceful or reflected as poorly for Britain to have elected Boris Johnson into the top political office in that nation as it is for Americans to have elected Donald Trump into the top political office in the United States.
That said, it should be noted that, in his resignation speech earlier today, he seemed rather remarkably to have pointed the finger of blame at Parliament and members of his Conservative Party, and not accepting any real responsibility of his own. This is likely to taint his legacy even further and, perhaps fairly or unfairly, seemingly cement some of those comparisons with Trump.
Another controversy, one for which Johnson is receiving considerable criticism today, is his refusal to outright step down from 10 Downing Street. He said that he would continue on as Prime Minister, but would refrain from any really big decisions, leaving those to the next elected leader of the nation. Many feel that Johnson should simply outright resign and bring an end to his era of power in the country. Johnson did state that he was saddened to have to resign from what he referred to as the greatest job in the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment