STANDARDS IN PUBLIC LIFE

 

Once upon a time, we Brits could congratulate ourselves on high standards in public life. If a government minister was discovered to have lied to the House of Commons (eg John Profumo), he would be expected to resign at once. If a minister kept crooked business company (eg Reginald Maudling) he would find his position untenable and leave public life. If his personal faults proved embarrassing to colleagues and constituents (eg George Brown), he would sink in esteem and inexorably depart from office. Sad to relate, these old standards have slipped markedly and the smell of corruption permeates easy-going Westminster, Whitehall and Downing Street.

        

                     John Profumo                                                   Reggie Maudling

      

                                  George Brown

Politics in the UK has been particularly fraught for the last 10 years as the nation has struggled with the fiscal and regulatory imperialism of the EU, which did not deign to listen to UK objections. This culminated in the 2016 referendum producing a slim majority in favour of leaving. A majority of the appalled Establishment preferred to stay but the democratic will had to be obeyed. The Tory Party was split, the incumbent leader David Cameron resigned; an ineffective Theresa May presided over a hopelessly split House of Commons and a weak ministry for 3 years. Boris Johnson rallied the Brexit cause, deposed May and won a stunning election victory in December 2019, finalising a vital exit deal with the EU in December 2020. After a transition period, the new trade deal has only now been ratified by the EU Parliament on 27 April 2021. A resolution by the EU characterized Brexit as “an historic error” and much residual bitterness lingers on both sides, despite diplomatically emollient words.

It is perhaps not surprising that parliamentary discipline has weakened during this period of splits and bitter enmity. The ability of party whips to strong-arm MPs into obedience is disappearing, so various oddballs and mavericks rave on undisturbed. The loyalty, and certainly the confidentiality, of the Civil Service is also very doubtful. 

Boris Johnson can take immense credit for leading the country through this labyrinth. At his best he is inspirational and he has stood up to a number of crises staunchly and usually has worsted his antagonists. Yet it is true that Boris is a polarising figure, much valued by many but intensely hated by others.                              

              Carrie Symonds and Boris

Nobody pretends that he is a paragon of virtue. He is denounced as a bounder and a cad (the same was said of Churchill) and his sex-life is “colourful”, not to say shambolic. Two wives, Allegra Mostyn-Owen and Marina Wheeler, with 4 legitimate children have been interspersed with a number of girlfriends. Petronella Wyatt, Anna Fazackerley, Helen McIntyre (I love-child), Jennifer Arcuti and his present fiancée Carrie Symonds (I love-child) are in the public arena, so there may be a few more. This is in the prime ministerial tradition of a Regency rake like Lord Palmerston or the Welsh goat David Lloyd George rather than the straight bat of Harold MacMillan or Gordon Brown.

          

        Palmerston                                                    Lloyd George
                          

The Opposition and Boris’ many enemies are today working themselves into a synthetic lather about his alleged indifference to Covid victims and potential sleaze relating to the funds for the refurbishment of his Downing street flat, without making timely declarations. The public do not really care about this “Westminster bubble” story and I doubt if any mud will stick. I do not favour blue-nosed attitudes, but in truth Boris has pushed public tolerance to new limits.

                   David Cameron – entitled lobbyist?

More serious is the story of ex-Premier David Cameron’s lobbying for Greensill Capital, an Australian company providing supply chain finance – it collapsed in March 2021. The allegation is that Cameron misused his considerable influence to try to persuade the Treasury and Bank of England to give Greensill preferential treatment. He stood to make some millions of pounds through options if he had succeeded. Cameron, since leaving office, has had an off-putting attitude of entitlement and he may be heavily censured in the subsequent Inquiry. Amazingly, a senior government official was simultaneously allowed to remain in office and join the Greensill payroll.

Other public bodies have recently shown slipping standards. The BBC once observed Reithian impartiality but even hitherto sane Laura Kuenssberg filed a very distorted story about Sir James Dyson, Covid ventilators and tax – she was once friendly with Dominic Cummings, now Boris’ fiercest critic. Many other BBC correspondents are blatantly partisan. Even as trusted an institution as the Post Office has blotted its copybook on standards; its chief executive Paula Vennells resigned after the convictions of 39 sub-postmasters were quashed after their alleged theft was ascribed to a computer error. Vennells ignored legal advice and many other postal officers were caught up in this dire miscarriage of justice.

Of course, in the outside world things are much worse. UK universities are a hotbed of “liberal” wokery, denouncing those who disagree with them with Stalinist fervour. In the US President Biden, beholden to leftist cliques, supports BLM, and those organisations “cancelling” author J K Rowling and ethnologist Richard Dawson who both dared to doubt members of the “trans” community had the right to decree what sex they were. The EU, needless to say, has no compunction in lying about vaccines, Brexit, economic performance and anything else it fancies.

We cannot reform the world. We only hope that the UK pulls up her socks and that she returns her public life to the high standards she once enjoyed. We will then be able to breathe fresher air.

 

SMD

29.04.21

Text Copyright © Sidney Donald 2021