Abraham Lincoln was prophetic when he said ‘nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character give him power’.
By our standards the reasons why Boris Johnson had to quit may look silly, but his resignation has great lesson for India and parliamentary democracies. Johnson has been a charismatic conservative party leader who steered the exit of Britain from the European Union. In December 2019 under his leadership the conservative party won a historic mandate, biggest since 1987. Who could ever visualise that the faith and trust put by the country would be squandered so fast. A PM found lying is bound to lose trust and confidence of the people in Britain. He won a confidence vote about two months back. It only tells us that people cannot be taken for granted.
A most detailed survey to date, conducted in July 2021 across the whole of UK over ‘what kind of democracy do people want’ revealed that people do not want power to be concentrated in the hands of a few but they want power to be shared amongst parliament, judges, regulators, civil servants and the public. Overwhelmingly (71%) voted for a honest PM as against his delivery capacity. Honesty and owning up mistakes is what people wanted, getting things done and being ‘inspiring’ were far behind. The findings make it clear that Britons care for integrity of their leaders and do not want power to be unduly concentrated in the hands of the executive. The Boris Johnson ouster shows that England wishes to live by that standard. Britain wanted a PM who would restore dignity and self-respect to the country and its governance.
After Brexit, Britain faced grave economic crises accelerated by the covid pandemic. Cost of living was rising with almost a 10% inflation, the highest in Europe. Johnson may not be entirely responsible for it. Brexit had not solved Britain’s problems but contributed to the economic mess. There is shortage of fifty thousand nurses according to British medical association and a similar number of doctors are required. As the head of the government he had to carry that burden. It was difficult times and that eroded the public support along with many embarrassing scandals.
Johnson tried to protect Owen Paterson, an MP who received half a million pounds for lobbing on behalf of private clients. Conservatives could not digest such misdemeanor. Johnson was accused of breaking lockdown rules during Covid-19 pandemic and attended booze parties, one such on his 56th birthday in June 2020. The police issued 126 fines to 83 people for breaking lockdown rules at Downing Street in White Hall.
Such behaviour from the PM was not acceptable to the people. The appointment of Chris Pincher despite knowledge of his sexual misconduct on several occasions claiming he did not know the accusations when he appointed him was proved false and Pincher resigned admitting he groped two young men in a drunken state.
In bad economic times the PM attempted to bolster his own image by exerting the Ukrainians to fight back against the Russian invasion. The international image did not help as domestically he was accused of mishandling the economy with allegations of double standards and duplicity.
His unkempt hair and chaotic private life did not matter to the people but his elastic relationship with truth was what the Britons could not tolerate. Sajid Javid said in his resignation letter ‘the tone you set as leader and the values you represent, reflect on your colleagues, your party and ultimately the country’. In a cabinet system they are all collectively responsible. This is what is expected from a cabinet system of governance responsible to the parliament.
Despite India being a federal country our constitution framers did not give us presidential form of democracy but chose a parliamentary system modeled on the Westminster scheme, based upon British conventions. It is extremely important for us in India to understand how a democratic process ought to function.
Westminster system requires more team players than charismatic individuals. Personality cult only weakens cabinet system and renders the parliament irrelevant. Indira Gandhi did that to the system in the 1970s. Now we see that happening again with the rise of the personality cult of Narendra Modi. Boris Johnson was spot on when he said in his resignation speech ‘in politics no one is remotely indispensible, even Margaret Thatcher the iron lady who gave massive mandates to the conservative party in the 1980s was not.
At a time in history when at least the progressive mindset is losing faith in the Indian governance and its institutions and people are losing confidence in democracy, as justice and liberty are no longer the prime purposes of politics. Political sense is changing due to the unethical conduct of those who are supposed to be helm of affairs. Our Parliament is no longer a galaxy of stars.
As Rishi Sunak put it ‘the public aspect government to be conducted properly, completely and seriously’. Had the citizens demanded fairness and accountability our governance and democracy would be far ahead.
We have never demanded moral responsibility from our MLAs or MPs who shifts side for money and power. We have never questioned the moral legitimacy of leaders who build their personality cult over violence and killings.
(The writer is a practising advocate, senior faculty in law and a political thinker)
