A Narcissist's Prayer: The Moral Vacuum at the Heart of Our Goverment
A striking thing about Boris Johnson and the Conservatives is that even with a crisis of ‘this’ magnitude, they seem unrelenting in their approach to making it worse - be it via the ham-fisted non-apology made by Boris Johnson at Prime Minister’s Questions - torn asunder by opposition members, or even Jacob Rees-Mogg who felt it was a good idea to describe the leader of the Scottish Tories Douglas Ross as a “lightweight.”
Or even - wait - Jacob Rees-Mogg - again - who said in defence of Johnson’s actions that measures that were in place at the time of the May 20, 2020 party were:
“too harsh to expect people to obey them.”
Even Steve Baker MP during PMQs could see that ‘it just wasn’t working’.
There is no collective sense within the Conservatives of taking stock of what exactly the problem is, and then bringing forth a consensus of some kind of plan to actually deal with it.
And just when they think they have it assembled - just when they think it couldn’t possibly get any worse, an MP like Simon Hoare weighs in and announces on Sky News that he was of the understanding that the May 20, 2020 party was organised for now-Justice secretary Dominic Raab, all the while the Vanarama-league minnows of Kettering Town Football Club were mocking the Prime Minister.
And then - and then - as though by some serendipity, the Prime Minister is forced to ‘pull out’ of a planned visit to Lancashire after a family member tests positive for coronavirus.
Though there is no suggestion on the part of this page that it has somehow been staged, the optics - of a man who has frequently evaded scrutiny by taking holidays or even in one case hiding in a fridge - are terrible.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak MP offered a lukewarm tweet in response by supporting-not-really-supporting the Prime Minister much later than most anticipated, too.
To add to the absurdity, ‘walking-talking dead cat’ Nadine Dorries stated that the reason for Rishi Sunak’s belated response was that there was, essentially, no internet in Devon.
Dorries’ support was followed by additional MPs and rallying cries from Michael Gove, Sajid Javid, Brandon Lewis, Dominic Raab, Nadhim Zahawi and finally Priti Patel, who insisted previously in September 2020:
“It’s not about dobbing in neighbours, I think it’s all about us taking personal responsibility. If there was a big party taking place, it would be right to call the police.”
And later tweeted in January:
It was as unedifying and as humiliating as when many of these same MPs supported Dominic Cummings after his trip to Barnard Castle and just as insincere, as it’s revealed that Boris Johnson spoke to many of them in the Commons tea room following PMQs and said:
“…we’re taking hits for something we don’t deserve.”
By Thursday, the public felt otherwise, and gave Labour their clearest lead in the polls since 2003.
By Friday, it was a 14 point lead:
In a further blow to the Prime Minister, the widely respected and much-loved, PR-friendly Jonathan Van Tam resigned at the worst possible time after his contract with the government ended.
And then, and then and then - the otherwise Conservative-friendly and apparent “real boss” of Boris Johnson, The Telegraph, dropped a bombshell and reported a new series of parties that occurred in Downing St. the night before Prince Philip’s funeral.
For which Downing St. later apologised [although without declaring exactly what for] - clearly accepting this was a party as opposed to a ‘workplace gathering’, which could then be reasonably applied to all of the subsequent parties.
A question that should be posited to Conservative MP for Romford Andrew Rosindell - who a little over a week ago stood in Parliament and called for the BBC to play the National Anthem at the end of every day - is, ‘how does this make you feel?’
The second question is, would the “honourable” member for Romford honestly believe the Prime Minister if he said that after he returned from Chequers and commemorated Prince Philip’s death by standing awkwardly outside the door like a hunchbacked scarecrow, he had no knowledge of the party taking place - even though, in one instance, the Telegraph alleges that his son Wilf’s coveted and prized swing was destroyed?
Or Sutton in Ashfield MP Lee Anderson, Conservative MP for Bassetlaw Brendan Clarke-Smith, and a whole slew of Conservative MPs that felt as though ‘taking the knee’ during the national anthem at England’s football matches was somehow a two-fingered salute to her majesty?
How do they feel about this?
If they do not feel ashamed by their Prime Minister for the heartache caused to the families of those bereaved, which is on par in its morbidity, or those who made so many sacrifices during the pandemic only to learn that he personally attended parties in Downing St. maybe the inclusion of the Queen’s own private grief will elevate their disdain beyond the pale.
Maybe.
In the case of North West Leicestershire MP Andrew Bridgen, in a piece filled with nonsensical superlatives written in the very same newspaper, said that there was:
“a moral vacuum at the heart of our government.”
And he is expecting his voters to believe that as a result of the December-January media onslaught of ‘cut through’ stories, he only realised this now?
The Problem - for the Conservatives
Bridgen is stupid, however. William Wragg, too.
Both may be operating as a ‘mavericks’ at this point - although this requires a degree of intelligence that neither Bridgen nor Wragg seem to possess.
The Sutton Coldfield councillors belonging to the constituency of Conservative MP Andrew Mitchell, which unanimously voted to withdraw their support for Boris Johnson are either smart, suicidal or stupid, as well.
Others like Caroline Nokes or Sir Roger Gale, and a handful of Scottish MPs appear happy to see the Conservatives burn.
The Conservatives knew that Johnson would never truly apologise - for he perceives apologies as a sign of weakness - and at the very least, they knew any apology would be reserved and insincere.
Johnson knows that 'they' know this, too, no matter how many ‘wine time’ parties - every Friday; even during the pandemic - the Prime Minister is alleged to have attended.
But then Johnson also knows that the Conservatives can do nothing about it in any event, and if they did, would be cataclysmic and suicidal at the ballots.
Because there is nothing else - and the Conservatives are the living embodiment of a U2 song.
As noted previously, all paths are blocked by the public opinion on contenders to his throne, and to get rid of Johnson is existential for the Conservatives, but they can't live ‘with or without’ him.
That is why they chose him in 2019 after all.
For all of Johnson’s faults, people need to appreciate the trivial and superficial dynamism [or 'image politics'/'personality politics'] he possesses that turns the disenfranchised voter that doesn't care about politics, into suddenly finding a 'gateway' into the subject of politics by voting for a man that is fundamentally nothing more than a sideshow curiosity, albeit without any redeeming qualities that enable us to sympathise with their often tragic conditions.
Regressing to a slow-burning, inactive managerial type - like Rishi Sunak or Elizabeth Truss, perhaps - the Conservatives lose the voters that historically ‘never voted’.
As a consequence, in selecting somebody else, they will most likely lose any future election, which would inevitably be triggered by the appointment of a new leader.
Johnson knows - that the Conservatives know - that he knows this, and is why his smirks, his arrogance and hubris is to be expected, and his apologies half-hearted.
Because he knows the Conservatives’ hands are tied however much the public hate him at this point.
Bunker Down
Ultimately, it’s the argument of people like Brandon Lewis MP and Dominic Raab MP as part of the obscene ‘Operation Save Our Boris’ campaign named by the Daily Mail and later ‘Operation Save Big Dog’ by The Independent.
Raab says that Boris Johnson will be Prime Minister:
“for many years to come”.
Michael Gove told the 1922 Committee on Wednesday:
“[Boris Johnson] gets the big calls right.”
But.
Their argument is that they:
Still think Johnson is an electoral asset and deploy what this page has dubbed ‘the Winchester effect’ where the Prime Minister will pop off on a trip to Scotland at the height of a crisis and wait for it all to blow over.
Also think that regardless of the judgment of any Sue Gray investigation or any potential ministerial conduct inquiry - the beginning and end rests with the view held by the public upon election, and so will ‘ride it out’ until that date, and irrespective of public opinion as it currently stands.
Probably feel:
The British public are so stupid, and suffer from such an acute case of amnesia, that nobody will remember any of this, or any other fatal decision and indecision, and all the Prime Minister has to do is ‘roll-out’ the “Boris” character at a later date, and all is forgiven in time for the election.
And genuinely believe:
As Jacob Rees-Mogg states, that they "won an election and that’s the basis on how democracy in this country works", and this sense of entitlement and superiority means -
i) voters have to live with it and cannot change their minds until the next election if they’re ‘that’ unhappy
ii) voters should have no reason to be unhappy because after all, it’s what they voted for. And nothing can or should be done about it - according to Mogg - at least until people like Rees-Mogg, in their superiority, step in and throw rattles in the Prime Minister’s general direction. In which case that is how it works, eh Jacob?
The Owen Paterson scandal though, is a pertinent example of why the Conservatives could feasibly ‘ride it out’ - even if the general public hate their guts.
While outrage existed, the polls went in opposition’s favour, and it resulted in Paterson’s resignation and a North Shropshire drubbing by the Lib Dems, nothing fundamentally changed.
If politicians want to be corrupt, the system is still designed to allow it and at the very least be more fastidious - no matter how many slaps on the wrist MPs or companies get via judicial review courtesy of the Good Law Project.
Despite broadcasters and politicians describing her as such, Sue Gray is not truly “independent” either; so it’s a nonsequitur that MPs are waiting for her ‘judgment’ when it ultimately carries no weight and is answerable only to the very man Gray is investigating.
To implement her in this case - to keep adding investigation after investigation, the need for scrutiny creates delay after delay - as the reason for not proceeding further is pure obfuscation.
And if these same MPs waiting for the ‘judgment’ will only make a decision after it has been delivered [whenever that might be - although unhindered by the Metropolitan Police’s lack of involvement] follow the example of Raab and Lewis - and for the reasons why they believe Johnson is still an electoral asset - the chances are they’ll merely sit on their hands once again and ‘ride out’ the disdain.
Even if contrary to Priti Patel’s analysis…
…the “people’s priorities” are they they would rather, at this point, see the back of Boris Johnson, than ‘back’ him in support.
Then - in spite of public opinion, however many of their offices are vandalised - as Wellingborough MP Peter Bone’s was, for the second time in three months since the last scandal - merely bunker down and wait for another election.
A Sad Conclusion
The only man in this case who might actually be the only one to make a decision on Johnson’s future then, is the man who famously cannot make a decision on anything.
But then Johnson’s ego will not allow himself to resign - as discussed previously here and described succinctly by the BBC from Boris Johnson’s own childhood aspirations of being ‘world king’.
The words of Jacob Rees-Mogg are telling in this instance.
Boris Johnson truly believes through some sense of entitlement and superiority that he had not only been blessed by ‘divine right’ but that he was divine; godlike, narcissistic, vainglorious, impervious, invincible, unsinkable, beyond the rules that apply to mere mortals like you and I.
Right now, he’s playing ‘Chicken’ with his own party - they will issue warnings in The Times describing it as “last chance saloon.”
“I don’t care if you hate my guts,” he may respond - not just to the Conservatives considering a censure motion but to the general public, also - “So shut up! You get what you deserve.”
“Because, after all,” Johnson might add, “you voted for it.”
“So if you’re unhappy with me,” Johnson might say, “then you’ll just have to take it on the chin.”
“Because like James Bond,” the unoriginal Johnson will conclude, “nobody does it better - and you know it.”
And Conservatives may laugh at the arrogance at first; then they will ponder on it; they’ll consider the pool of replacements and then look back at Johnson - in sheer terror -and mutter to themselves, “My God, he’s right!” and veer off at the last possible minute into a nearby telephone pole.
On the other hand, they might just smash into each other head-on the put forward a censure motion, engulfing the entire Conservative Party in flames and emplacing another hopeless leader, to the ambivalence of the desensitised British public - who are not-at-all shocked, will not support them moving forward, and have been left asking, ‘well, those last two years were a massive [and tragic] waste of time, weren’t they?’
To which the only answer will come in the form of a GIF and look rather like this:
