I awoke this morning to reports that UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is stepping down. His downfall was triggered by a wave of resignations by cabinet members and other officials from his own party.
Johnson's sins include hypocrisy (attending parties while the country was locked down during the COVID pandemic), and a serial inability to tell the truth. Those are the sorts of missteps and red flags that, until 2016, would have put immense pressure on a US president, too.
This post practically writes itself: President Trump's sins are several magnitudes worse, notably including an attempt to overthrow the results of the 2020 presidential election. And yet he has dodged convictions in two impeachment trials, thanks to senators in his own party notoriously declining to hold him accountable. The contrast between the GOP leadership and Tory leadership could not be starker.
Trump continues to operate with impunity today, trying to play the kingmaker role during the GOP primary season, and attending rallies where he repeats his trust-eroding lies about the 2020 election. And he may be announcing his 2024 presidential candidacy at any time.
It's difficult to escape the conclusion that the British system is functioning better than ours these days; and the British people might be better than us right now, too.
There is a good article on Boris Johnson's downfall on the Atlantic site, by Helen Lewis: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/here-lies-boris-johnson/ar-AAZjSGf
ReplyDeleteI am actually surprised he lasted as long as he did as prime minister.
Helen Lewis has this to say about it: "...the wonder of his career is less that he lied so much than that he rebounded every time. He got away with it for so long with the help of three types of people. The first includes those who would have struggled to become minister of paper clips in another administration but got top jobs in Johnson’s."
"...The second group consists of those who knew who Johnson was and what he was but gambled that he could give them what they wanted."
"The final group that enabled Johnson to survive so long were the supporters who let themselves be fooled, who seemed genuinely let down when they discovered that he lied to them and not just to everyone else."
I would call the three groups the opportunists, the irredeemably cynical, and the gullible. I think we have them over here, too.
I'm wondering what the rich and powerful got from, specifically regarding BREXIT. The rich here seem to like frictionless trade and flow of capital. Perhaps there was too much regulation in the EU, worker's rights and environmental cognizance.
DeleteI think there might be some buyers remorse with some people about Brexit. It had a populist appeal. Category three in the Lewis article were those who were gullible and naive, and believed the hype about Brexit. Not sure big business was really in favor.
DeleteThe young adults were strongly opposed. My son lived in the UK for 2 years, and his wife lived there for 9 . She did all of her higher education in England, including two masters and a DPhil ( doctorate) as did her siblings because their parents, French and Polish, believed that fluency in English would be a great advantage to them in their lives. Their many English friends were shocked and horrified. But many had failed to vote, as happened here. They never imagined that it would pass. Like my son’s wife and her sibs (one lives in Scotland, one in Germany) they consider themselves to be European. British European, French European, German European etc. Her sister’s husband is German, her brother married an English woman. All identified as European in addition to their birth country. Marriages between people of different nationalities are common because as part of the EU they could all move around for education and jobs. The entire EU was theirs. The British young adults never saw it coming because the advantages of EU membership to their generation were so many.,
DeleteAgree, Jim. The Tories have far more honor than the Republicans here. Their system also makes it much easier to get rid of a bad PM.
Delete"I'm wondering what the rich and powerful got from, specifically regarding BREXIT. The rich here seem to like frictionless trade and flow of capital. Perhaps there was too much regulation in the EU, worker's rights and environmental cognizance."
DeleteI think Katherine's take is right: Brexit passed despite the rich and powerful, not because of them. You are right that the rich and powerful liked being in the EU, because it gave them access to a gigantic marketplace.
My impression was the populist backlash was part populist economics (jobs protection) and part British national identity (the dark side of which is dislike of immigrants from other parts of Europe). An open labor market usually means much greater competition for jobs for those on the lower rungs of the wage ladder.
As I understand it, party allegiance is more important than allegiance to a particular PM candidate in the UK. The PM is supposed to toe the party line and act in the best interests of the party, especially when it comes to forming a coalition government when a majority cannot be reached.
ReplyDeleteOur system involves parties picking a strong man (or woman, tho that hasn't happened yet) with the flamboyance and flash to get people excited. Cuz Americans love excitement! They also want someone who will have enough influence to stack the down ballot in their favor so that they don't have to hash anything out with the losers.
The winning party wraps whatever they do in the mantle of "this is what most people want because they voted for us." It sounds like democracy, but if you look at gun laws, abortion, health care, etc., you don't see either party doing what the opinion polls say the majority wants.
The comparatively long election process here also allows the PR machines to create narratives that create personality cults that lionize their candidate and demonize the other candidate.
Not that the Brits don't have a lot invested in their PMs or that personality cults don't form. Think Churchill and Thatcher. But it seems to happen less.
Maybe there is an advantage to having a Queen? Prime Ministers and parties come and go but Her Majesty's Government (the bureaucrats) remain.
ReplyDeleteI think for the Brits the Queen (or the king as the next monarch will be) is a unifying figure even though she or he doesn''t really do anything as far as actual governing nowadays.
DeleteThe monarch is supposed to oversee "good governance." The PM has to report weekly, and, in private session, can be asked pointed questions about anything the monarch wants to ask on behalf of the national welfare. There might be something salubrious for some PMs in having to explain themselves to an old lady who seems to have a strong bullsh*t detector. On the other hand, somebody like Johnson (or Trump) strikes me as impervious to questions that would shame a normal person.
DeleteShocking news about Shinzo Abe's assassination in Japan. This despite intensive gun control and Japanese civility. Despite Chinese official outlets paying their respects, Abe was not liked there.
ReplyDeleteAll the more puzzling since Abe is not the current prime minister. Seems like someone must have had a grudge. I don't know if anyone has been arrested yet?
DeleteApparently his economic policies widened wealth disparity, and some people are still affected by and angry about that. Not that that's a legit reason to shoot people, but sometimes I wonder of the stress of modern life is going to bring about the end of civilization quicker than global warming. My guess is that the assassination happened now because Abe is out and about campaigning for candidates and accessible to people.
DeleteThe gun used in Japan was home-made. Apparently the shooter has several home-made guns. Political assassination is not exactly new, but I’m worrying that the US propensity to gun violence is being exported, just as our pop culture is - movies, music, fast- food, sports team shirts (American teams). And now gun violence? Last week there was a mass shooting at a gay pride parade in Norway and one at a shopping mall in Denmark. Two progressive countries long-known as non- violent.
DeleteIn recent years, analysts have pointed out that people in other countries watch many of the same movies and tv shows as do Americans, play the same violence saturated video games, have far, far lower rates of police shootings, and have similar levels of mental illness as Americans, but have not often experienced (non-Islamist terrorist) mass shootings - which occur every day here - more than 300 mass shootings so far this year. America has some kind of widespread cultural sickness. I pray that we aren’t spreading it to others.
Some want to blame it on low levels of religious practice here, or even on Americans support of legal abortion. But religious practice in most other developed countries is far lower than in the US, and keeping abortion legal is not an issue in most of the other rich countries.
Maybe our resident social scientist would weigh in here. Jack?
I see that the shooter was arrested.
DeleteAccording to one report I saw, the shooter claims he didn't know it was Abe he was shooting - thought the target was a senior official in some religious movement. The shooter has said various other things to police which suggest mental illness; police are said to be evaluating him.
DeleteHad the wherewithal to build a homemade gun that worked well enough. I think Japan has the death penalty.
DeleteWonder if he built the gun with the aid of a 3-D printer. I understand that is a thing that there are even plans available for. Of course I know zero about how that would even work.
DeleteSome dentists now make dental crowns with 3-D printers, and can make and place the crowns in one appointment. So like anything else the technology can be used for good or ill.
I think it was just two metal pipes bound to a 2x4. 3D printing is usually done in plastic which is unsuitable for firearms although single use might be possible. There is metal 3D printing but those machines have to be expensive and I'm still skeptical about the strength of the final product.
DeleteI don’t know how many articles non- subscribers can get at WaPo. But there is an interesting article about the impact of Brexit on the Brit economy showing up more clearly now as the fog of COVID’s impact begins to lift.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/07/boris-johnson-resignation-brexit-economy-inflation-trade-growth/
Thanks Anne, that's an interesting article. I think WaPo allows five free articles a month before the paywall kicks in. I took advantage of their $29 special a while back.
DeleteIt doesn't surprise me that Brexit is not turning out to be as great as it was being sold to people. Interesting that the new Labour slogan is "Make Brexit Work". That would depend on people putting their money where their mouth is, and putting in the effort to make it work. Good luck with that.