Boris Johnson wants you to forget Partygate. Don’t let him get away with it... https://www.theguardian.com/comment...-resigning-matter-democracy-peril-leaders-lie
key bit from that for me Johnson’s patent disinterest in the truth does not yet mean we are in a totalitarian state. For that to happen, it is not enough for our leaders to lose respect for the truth. We, the public, must lose this respect as well. We have not yet reached the final stage of Elena Gorokhova’s nightmare where, as the Russian writer put it, our rulers keep lying so “we keep pretending to believe them”. For Arendt, the ideal subject of totalitarian rule was not an ideological fanatic, but rather someone for whom “the distinction between fact and fiction and the distinction between true and false no longer exist”. In other words, the ball is now in our court. It may be that our prime minister has given up on the truth. It may be that his party has given up caring about his giving up on the truth and no longer has the will to remove him. Some people may now argue things such as “despite Partygate, Johnson got the big calls right” or “we can’t remove him in the midst of a war” – so called “greater good” arguments, which have always served as cover for the most toxic abuses. But if we allow ourselves to be seduced by these arguments then we too are giving up, and accepting that the distinction between true and false is only a secondary matter. That is why Partygate still remains a resigning matter, and why the public must call for Johnson’s resignation more loudly than ever.
Everywhere I've ever worked there's been someone who believes themselves indispensable. They're eventually sacked, replaced and soon forgotten. It was always obvious a compulsive liar like Boris Johnson was never going to last and it's now time for him to go. If his replacement manages to be worse then the Tory party is truly doomed.
To be honest (pun definitely intended) there are so many inquiries that nobody can keep track of them all. Off the top of my head, dubious holidays, flat renovation donations, Russian oligarchs donating to the Conservative party (then being given knighthoods to access law passing and access to the cabinet for lobbying) ,chumocracy contracts, bodies piling up in their thousands, partygate, Barnard Castle eye tests, etc. etc. etc.the list is endless. But, of course these are all rendered as null and void by the famous obliterative caveat , "It would have been worse under Jeremy Corbyn"
'has to be better than' is a dangerous mindset. As football supporters we should know that. Most of the time they're just as bad, often worse, but in different ways. Labour winning the next election would be horrific tbh. The whole country would be paralyzed as the infighting reaches fever pitch. That's not to say the Tories winning would be a great result either mind.
More evidence that ‘getting Brexit done’ the way they did it was irresponsible and goes some way to understanding why we can’t afford to help people with the cost of living. a cheap gag to get elected causing economic hardship and the trauma it creates for people. ‘One obvious problem with the strategy is that Brexit, as an economic project, is evidently not going well. In its Spring Statement assessment, the Office for Budget Responsibility confirmed its previous assessment that Brexit has cost us 4 per cent of GDP (twice the long-term hit of Covid) with none of the supposed benefits resulting in any material economic contribution. The economic damage has been caused by a decline in trade with the EU, which Sunak was forced to admit was “unsurprising when you change a trading relationship with the EU” and that a change in our relationship “will obviously have an impact”. Unsurprising to those who thought Brexit would be costly would be more accurate. Sunak also maintained that the UK was not becoming a less open economy which, given the trade numbers, is obviously nonsense. We have not even implemented import checks yet and may have to delay them further….. The mounting evidence of the economic damage caused by Brexit ought to be a worrying vulnerability for the government, with Labour pushing the line that the reason taxes are having to go up is because economic growth is so weak. It is a very good point. Pointing out that growth is low is one thing but setting out a convincing explanation that growth would be higher with a change of government is another. There is, of course, an oven-ready solution to low growth, which would be to repair our economic relationship with the EU. Some of the 4 per cent hit to GDP caused by us leaving the single market and customs union could be recovered if we were to move closer to these institutions’ https://www.newstatesman.com/commen...but-neither-labour-nor-the-tories-will-say-so
