The Prime minister, the focal point of our country, the man who represents the United Kingdom to the rest of the world, should be setting the right example, right?
Some have suggested that his time is up even with his own party; Conservative MPs turning on him, ‘for all the good you’ve done you’ve sat there too long, in the name of God go’ – David Davis, with regards to Tory party scandals. Following the exposal of the “partygate” scandal. Boris Johnson and the conservative party, those who guided us through Covid enforcing Lockdowns and laws which in effect violated our human rights, such as; the freedom to movement or the right to education.
The public on a whole accepted this in order to keep others safe, this was demonstrated from the pinnacle of society by the Queen who had to mourn her husband’s death alone. Meanwhile the night before Prince Phillips’ funeral, Boris Johnson and the Conservative party were partying until the early hours of the morning. This is the definition of hypocrisy as whilst everyone else had been following the rules enforced by the government, they were the ones breaking the rules.
Johnson had denied these claims of a ‘party’ in Downing street and claimed it was a ‘work event’ during PMQs, however it would be naive to believe these claims as his apology to her majesty is almost an admission of guilt. With these statements Boris Johnson has effectively broken the ministerial code by misleading parliament, which by convention would mean he should step down?
However it is unlikely that we will see the back of Johnson as of right now as the ministerial code is only a convention not legally binding. In addition there are few ways to get rid of a Prime Minister; Taken down by his cabinet, taken out by his party and the most likely of the three a vote of no confidence in the commons. It will take 56 letters to trigger this vote however has become less likely following the defection of Christian Wakeford, MP of South Bury. Despite thinking his action would be the crumble of the Tory party it instead further united them and has decreased the likelihood of a vote of no confidence.
Although there is a minimal amount of those who will stand by Boris there are a few, they would argue that it would be overly harsh to get rid of him following all the good he has done for the country in the last few years; such as his Brexit policy and the guidance through Covid with the vaccine rollout being one of the most successful throughout the world. However these cannot keep relaying his success in their heads to cover up for the mistakes constantly being made such as; the failure of Cop 26, which was not his fault however the media coverage of Cop 26 was completely overruled by Tory sleaze scandals such as the Owen Patterson lobbying affair.
It is unlikely that we will see the back of Johnson until May when the Local Elections take place, if Johnson fails to provide a strong majority within these elections it could be a checkmate for the Prime Minister. However if he can weather the storm for now then we may be able to see Johnson in office for a little longer, possibly see him hold on until the next general election which is his ultimate aim.