No matter what I was going to write about this week there is now only one story that dominates politics, the final Caesar like demise of Johnson as Prime Minister. Even now he is still hanging on waiting for the Conservative Party to select a new leader and once again the country will end up with a Prime Minister that has not had to face the national electorate. Up until then we will not have a functioning government. So much for strong and stable.
I am glad he is on his way out. It should have happened a long time ago, not because he is a Conservative (that is the party that won our distorted electoral system) but rather because he lied, he cheated, he abused his position, he broke the law and he ignored the protocols and standards of Parliament. He also potentially committed treason – we’ll see how that pans out.
This has been the most extraordinary period in British politics that I have certainly ever known. It has highlighted to me, as if I needed any further proof, that our political system is broken. It relies on an unwritten set of agreements and protocols that are open to abuse should somebody of that mind come along. They did and they very nearly succeeded. This was our Capitol Hill moment.
There is too much power placed in the Prime Minister and this period has highlighted our lack of an effective Head of State.
Whoever comes into power needs to act quickly to restore faith in our political system and return it to a more stable and productive period. An inquiry is probably needed to understand how we ended up in the mess that we did, where nearly half the Government ministers resigned in less than 36 hours. But we can’t go back. The current system is not working and all that has happened over the last few months and weeks is that it has been exposed for what it is.
I am not asking for a particular flavour of government, though I have my preferences. What I am asking for is a political system that upholds the rule of law, that respects the conventions of Parliament and that reflects the wishes of the majority of the population.
Today, we have none of these.
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 