The House of Commons may have begun its Easter recess (why do MPs ‘need so much holiday?) but you can tell the government started preparing weeks ago for the local government elections: the Illegal Immigration bill going through Parliament has already sparked endless debate about ‘illegal migrants’, but it seems ministers are really ramping up the dog whistle rhetoric, forever trotting out the tired old script about ‘small boats’, ‘smashing the business model of criminal gangs’, and ‘people dying in the Channel’, as if they actually have any humanitarian concern. Of course most people would agree that 51,000 asylum seekers being accommodated in hotels at a cost of more than £6m a day is not acceptable, but consensus stops there. Unable to be specific about the possibility of moving them from hotels to barges, Justice Secretary Dominic Raab’s interview this week on the Today programme was a typical car crash. But this is yet another issue the Conservative Party is split on. Chair of the Defence Select Committee Tobias Ellwood said there is “no functioning process” that allows Afghans to apply for asylum from abroad: ‘This is clearly not who we are as a nation’, but as a Radio 4 listener tweeted: ‘Unfortunately It IS ‘who we are’ under this government’.
Collusive media which conflate ‘illegal immigrants’ with asylum seekers do us a huge disservice, because many won’t bother getting their news from different sources and believe what they’re told. There’s a solid body of opinion which holds that if there are no safe and legal routes for asylum seekers, then there’s no such thing as ‘illegal immigration’. Media shy Home Secretary Suella Braverman was for once doing the media rounds this morning, on the Laura Kuenssberg programme again presenting the indefensible as acceptable and refusing to accept that Rwanda was anything but a safe country and refusing to respond to the part of the policy which allows Rwanda refugees to come to the UK. All this creation of division, besides the general corruption and lack of leadership in government, is so bad for our mental wellbeing (those seeking help forming an unprecedentedly long waiting list for poorly provided services) but there’s no chance of it changing any time soon.
You couldn’t make it up – the government now warning polluting water companies that they could be fined record amounts when it was this very government which facilitated their sewage dumping in the first place. On average there were 824 spills daily last year, the Independent tells us, shocking in itself, but also a further reminder of how toothless our regulators are despite their CEOs receiving stratospheric salaries. Worse, we have lazy and disengaged ‘ministers’ like Therese Coffey (Environment Secretary) who gives the shortest responses possible to questions and challenges in the House and who glibly dismisses criticism as clearly nothing to do with her. ‘….Coffey, who has faced calls to resign over the controversy, admitted “more needs to be done” to protect rivers and coastal waters. ‘I want to make sure that regulators have the powers and tools to take tough action against companies that are breaking the rules and to do so more quickly’. Apparently a new Plan for Water will be published shortly, which will set out plans to tackle pollution and boost water supplies. Err, right. What’s crystal clear and has been for ages is that water privatization just does not work.
Unfortunately, it was evident some time ago (it seemed to start with Theresa May) that this con trick of ‘making sure/ensuring’ something usually means the opposite: they have no intention of interrupting the massive profits these companies are making. It’s unacceptably depressing that we can’t just visit a river or coastline without worrying whether it’s one of the dumping sites as so many are. I often wonder how people who moved to the coast during the pandemic feel, especially as they clearly didn’t anticipate a mass return to the workplace within 18 months, let alone this shocking pollution on their doorsteps.
Keir Starmer has accused the government of “turning Britain’s waterways into an open sewer” and the Lib Dems have called for Coffey’s resignation – fat chance of that. The past few years have shown that almost nothing would make any Tory resign. This issue is surely a metaphor for the Tory poisoning of the body politic and of society, which started before Boris Johnson but was severely aggravated by him and didn’t change after he left office.
22nd March might now seem a long time ago but it’s likely its effects will be felt for a long time because of the extent of Boris Johnson’s damaging serial dishonesty. I watched the entire Commons Privileges Committee interrogation of the former PM and quite riveting it was, too. Numerous viewers were struck by his extreme arrogance, repeated attempts to undermine the process and to ‘correct’ the chair, Harriet Harman, whose calm throughout was admirable given the provocation. Also surprising and cheering was the forensic questioning by Committee members about his alleged misleading of Parliament, the most impressive of whom was fellow Tory Bernard Jenkin. Johnson looked alternately truculent, angry and even threatening, several times losing his temper, which spoke volumes. I thought four aspects of this process were very clear and alarming: first, this was the kind of questioning which the collusive media and Opposition figures should have been subjecting him to for years but haven’t; second, Johnson’s readiness to blame others for not objecting to the parties, abdicating his own responsibility as PM; third, the emergence only after rigorous questioning of the flimsiness of the ‘assurances’ received eg political advisers rather than civil servants; fourth, his insistence from his tiny bubble that it was ok to have parties as these people had been ‘working very hard’. What planet? However hard some of them may have worked, it won’t be comparable to what NHS and other essential workers had to contend with. And all this partying was going on when millions of people obeyed the rules and couldn’t see loved at end of life or attend a funeral in some cases.
Two more things about this: why did taxpayers have to pay for Johnson’s overpaid lawyers? Why wasn’t his legal aid bill subject to a means test? These questions weren’t asked by the media, of course. When Johnson has ‘earned’ so much in recent months from speaking engagements, it seems obscene that the public has to foot the bill for his Partygate defence but we’re told that this is the norm. Seems to me the norms need challenging. But it could also have been a waste of money for another reason: Johnson quickly went off piste during the proceedings and the expression on Lord Pannick’s face throughout was interesting to watch. ‘You can coach The Convict to within an inch of his life, but you can’t get him to perform to order. This was Boris at his worst. Angry, fidgety, arrogant. His contempt for the committee evident in almost every sentence. Then it was probably always going to be this way. Johnson seldom looks good under pressure…. People died alone while he and the rest of Number 10 partied. Always the lies, though. So it was no surprise that Boris doubled down. A committee session about lying to parliament was dominated by Boris again lying to parliament. At times it felt almost meta. Lying about lying about lying’. It got worse: ‘Johnson now introduced the concept of ‘personal drift’. You started off meaning to socially distance but somehow mysteriously ended up throwing up in bins, falling into flowerbeds or having sex with random strangers. This was all apparently totally normal….. none of his advisers had told him the rules had been broken and because he was too stupid to come to that conclusion on his own. He forgot to mention that his advisers had been hand-picked by him to accommodate his untruths. But by now he was rambling incoherently’. It’s worth reading the whole article.
A related issue is the clear and dubious involvement of ‘top civil servant’ Simon Case in so many suspect events. So far he’s managed to escape real scrutiny but for how long? Interestingly, he managed to damage Johnson’s defence at the hearing by saying that no ‘assurance’ was given regarding the legality of the parties. ‘The cabinet secretary, Simon Case, has denied giving Boris Johnson any reassurances that Covid rules and guidance were followed at all times in No 10 during the Partygate scandal. In newly released evidence from the Commons Privileges Committee, which is investigating whether the former prime minister deliberately misled MPs over lockdown gatherings, the head of the UK’s home civil service said he was unaware of anyone else in Downing Street giving assurances either’. So who were these ‘advisers’ giving Johnson these ‘assurances’?
It’s a shame that because of the long Easter recess, we have to wait till May for the Committee to reach its conclusions, which could possibly see ‘Boris’ having to fight a by-election. Needless to say, the usual suspects (like Jacob Rees-Mogg, Priti Patel, Nadine Dorries and others) wasted no time in condemning the process as a ‘witch hunt’, which I thought sounded like contempt of Parliament but, as ever, nothing has been done about it. These deluded people never seem to give up. Soon afterwards we heard about a May 13th conference organised by the Conservative Democratic Organisation (CDO), the group set up after Johnson was ejected from No 10 by his own party, with the agenda of ‘taking back control’. Their bullish tweets have to be seen to be believed, one asking ‘Have you met our CDO President? Always fighting for democracy and the members of the party he loves. Thank you Lord Cruddas for all you do’.
Of course there’s been much comment and speculation as to Johnson’s fate, some writers definitely now seeing him as humiliated and finished. Some think that while the former PM refuses to admit any wrongdoing, it is believed he will accept the finding of ‘recklessly misleading Parliament’ (‘only’ a ban from Parliament of 10 days) in order to avoid a potential by-election – how typical, cynical to the end. Another commentator opined that ‘Boris Johnson has become the equivalent of a dated ITV3 rerun…’, this effect being reinforced by the failure of Johnson’s attempted rebellion against the Windsor Framework, which in the event only netted 22 MPs. ‘He must still appear at the Covid-19 inquiry and perhaps he will lead a couple more parliamentary rebellions against his successor. But this was someone whose series has been canned and who now plays largely on channels devoted to repeats. He has become a subplot, a character actor brought back into a new spin-off for guest appearances (minimum fee: £250,000), each slightly less exciting than the last’.
Meanwhile, the lawlessness, dishonesty and cynicism unleashed by Johnson continues to make itself felt and also filters down to organizations like the police and the fire and rescue service (bullying, harassment, sexism and homophobia etc). It’s evident that many more than before the pandemic don’t see the need to follow rules or behave with integrity any more. On the political front, you’d have thought previous stings would have prevented more from being caught out but no, there’s no limit to the arrogance of even the disgraced, the latest to fall for it being Matt Hancock and Kwasi Kwarteng. ‘The former chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, and former health secretary, Matt Hancock, agreed to work for £10,000 a day to further the interests of a fake South Korean firm after apparently being duped by the campaign group Led by Donkeys’. As usual, when found out these people blame anyone but themselves. It’s also striking that Hancock only seems to communicate through an intermediary these days. ‘Hancock’s spokesperson said he had acted “entirely properly” and criticised what he described as the “illegal publication of a private conversation”. It seems particularly appalling that Sir Graham Brady, the chair of the 1922 Committee, also attended an online meeting for the fake foreign firm, and, though he didn’t take up the offer himself, offered to put the company in touch with others, suggesting that a rate of £6,000 a day ‘feels about right’. I wonder how many of us think this ‘feels about right’.
At least the Labour Party is promising to address this thorny issue of MPs having second jobs – many believe they should not have. ‘The footage showing his (Hancock’s) rapid response to a question over fees is likely to spark fresh controversy over concerns MPs may be bolstering their finances in ways that may be counter to the interest of the constituents they serve’.
As the media continue to focus on the Trump indictment, questions continue about the number of politicians and others under investigation here and remaining in post. Dominic Raab continues to pontificate in the Commons and media interviews, there’s still no news about the two investigations into BBC Chair Richard Sharp and we recently heard that although the police have dropped theirs into Tory MP Julian Knight (why dropped??) he still hasn’t had the Party Whip restored, which does nothing to reassure. There are numerous others under investigation but again, no one has been asked to step down for the duration. Another reason why we need root and branch reform of our parliamentary procedures – and our constitution too.
Despite the claims of some ministers like Kemi Badenoch, who this week boasted ‘we’ve done so much in government’, it seems that energy security and climate change are two more massive fails. ‘The UK is “strikingly unprepared” for the impacts of the climate crisis, according to the Climate Change Committee (CCC), which alluded to a ‘lost decade’ in the UK’s preparedness for the impacts of global warming. And who’s been in charge during this ‘lost decade’?? ‘The CCC, the government’s official climate adviser, said climate damages will inevitably intensify for decades to come. It has warned repeatedly of poor preparation in the past and said government action was now urgently needed to protect people and their homes and livelihoods…. The extreme heatwave in 2022, when temperatures surpassed 40C for the first time, was both an example and a warning, the CCC said. More than 3,000 people died early and 20% of hospital operations were cancelled at the peak of the heatwave, while rail lines buckled, wildfires raged and farmers struggled with drought. The CCC Chief Executive said: ‘The government is not putting together a plan that reflects the scale and the nature of the risks that face the whole country. This is completely critical. There is no option but to adapt to the change in the climate. The question is only whether we do that well by doing it early or wait until later’. Unfortunately, any ‘plan’ the government produces soon seems to reveal itself as hastily cobbled together, a non-plan which doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.
What follows is indicative of the government’s news manipulation, implying that really, things are going pretty well, when actually the CCC found that only 5 of the 45 action areas had been properly addressed. ‘A UK government spokesperson said: “We welcome the CCC’s recognition of our progress so far and will factor its recommendations into our updated National Adaptation Programme, which will be published later this year and will ensure we robustly address the full range of climate risks to the UK.” It’s damaging that the media doesn’t sufficiently challenge ministers on such misleading statements: from the above you’d think everything was pretty much under control – far from it.
As council tax bills plop onto mats up and down the country local authorities and taxpayers will be delighted by the news that £8m of their money is to be spent on sending a portrait of King Charles to all public bodies, including councils. ‘In a move that drew criticism amid complaints of shrinking budgets across Whitehall and local government, Oliver Dowden, the cabinet office minister, said it was part of plans to celebrate the new reign and bring the nation together’. No surprise that dimwit Dowden was involved in this, he who gives robotic interviews and who ruled last week that use of TikTok would be disallowed on government phones. This government really does specialise in doing gratuitous things that don’t need doing, while ignoring pretty well everything that does. ‘In a move that drew criticism amid complaints of shrinking budgets across Whitehall and local government, Oliver Dowden, the cabinet office minister, said it was part of plans to celebrate the new reign and bring the nation together’. It will take a lot more than this to ‘bring the nation together’.
And what a sickening speech: ‘We have entered a new reign in our history. Now as we unite in preparing for the splendour of the king’s coronation, these new portraits will serve as a visible reminder in buildings up and down the country of the nation’s ultimate public servant. They will help us turn a page in our history together – and pay a fitting tribute to our new sovereign. I am sure the portraits will take pride of place in public buildings across the land’. I can imagine some public bodies might feel like shoving them behind an old radiator, or worse. I don’t know what’s worse: the cynical attempt to piggyback on the Coronation feel good vibe (which exists in some quarters but certainly not all) or the assumption (which the media collude with) that we are all ‘excited’ about the Coronation and see fit to celebrate this massively expensive privilege fest. But it’s not only the media: already some of us will have had the assumption made that we’re keen to celebrate with a street party or other event, as if there’s zero evidence of growing anti-monarchist sentiment.
A positive story to end on – Finland has been named as the world’s happiest country for the sixth year in a row, based on the UN’s World Happiness Report. I certainly heard good reports from a friend who visited recently. Britain slipped two places to 19th – a bad result in itself but given the plummeting quality of life and what’s been going on here it’s surprising it didn’t slip more. Perhaps now we should look out for a surge in tourists wanting to visit Finland to see what it’s all about!
Have a good Easter!
Politics and mental health - the missing link? 