Quote of the day 27th May 2022
"The events detailed in Sue Gray’s report were wrong and should never have happened.
They’ve been investigated, a full and genuine apology has been given and it’s now time to move on.
We must focus on the challenges facing people today."
(Rt Hon Oliver Dowden MP, chairman of the Conservative party)
I suspect that there are people who will read that quote and ask "How can he defend the indefensible?"
He isn't defending it, neither am I, and indeed nor is the PM. Anyone who thinks Oliver Dowden is defending what happened should perhaps be asked
"What part of 'Wrong and should never have happened' don't you understand?"
It was indeed wrong, and it certainly should never have happened.
It was wrong in itself and it was a symptom of a culture of entitlement at the top of British society - including more than one political party, the civil service, the media and the elite in general - which needs to be challenged. There must be one rule for everyone, not one rule for those at the top and different rules for others.
The apologies which the PM has given are welcome: so are the measures which the government announced yesterday to address the cost of living crisis. But more is needed.
Going forward the government needs to demonstrate that it has learned the lessons of recent events, not just "partygate" but the cost of living crisis, the pandemic, and the invasion of Ukraine.
- We must continue to build our economy.
- We must get a grip on the issues which have hit so many people so hard in the wallet.
- We must train more medical professionals so that the NHS can be adequately staffed and address the huge backlog of people who need care and treatment following the pandemic and reduce the enormous stress on NHS staff.
- We must continue the crackdown on dirty money from Russia and elsewhere so that London remains a welcome place to invest honest money but is not a safe haven for the money stolen by dictators and crooks.
- We must show by deed and word that the rules apply to everyone.
If Boris Johnson can lead a government which achieves those things over the next year, and continues to deliver on the promises in the Conservative manifesto, he can, probably will, and yes, I will put my head above the parapet and write should, remain Prime Minister. If he cannot, then either the parliamentary Conservative party or the electorate will remove him.
Comments
But Johnson has certainly learned lessons - that much is true. His change to the ministerial code, so he no longer will be required to resign when it's accepted, even by loyal apparatchiks like yourself, that he knowingly misled parliament, is a clear lesson learned.
I'm sure you feel that's the right decision, so our glorious Leader can continue to build those model buses out of empty wine boxes (there must be plenty of them) on the public purse. But if you do have an original opinion on the change to the ministerial code, don't hold back, will you?
I've voted for parties of all persuasions over the years - but never the Tories. I have never in my life been more certain that that decision is the right one.
However, as I understand it these changes arise, not because Boris Johnson has suddenly decided to change the code at his own initiative, but as a result of recommendations from the Committee on Standards in Public Life, which the government has been carefully considering, and most of what is being proposed arises out of those recommendations.
No prime minister gets everything right: no party has a monopoly on vice or virtue. We don't get to vote for saints: we have to pick between the options available.
Even if I agreed with every word you have written criticising the present PM, Paul, which I don't, that would not make him the least ethical PM to have held office in Britain in this century.
You have not said, Paul, whether your votes for all the parties other than the Conservatives included any votes for Tony Blair, so maybe you didn't ever vote for him. And goodness knows, not having governed with as low a standard as Blair - there are not many charges which can be thrown at Johnson on which Blair didn't do something similar and worse - is hardly a high bar even before you start counting up the people killed in Iraq.
If you have ever voted for a party which was elected to government, you have voted for a party which got something badly wrong. All governments do - that's a fact of political life. We all have to make the best choices we can about which set of compromises is least worst. You say you are happy with your choices, Paul and you are entitled to that opinion. I am happy with mine.
(And yep, I did vote for Blair. And he did some very nasty things indeed - I can't recall a PM who didn't. But Blair wasn't a clown, he wasn't a habitual liar and a rulebreaker, he wasn't gleefully amoral.)
And as a result, I don't remember him getting that parking fine - but the nation will never forget Johnson's fine.
Oh, and if you didn't remember it, how did you know it was a parking fine? You're right, of course, it was. But I only wrote "fixed penalty notice."
If you were able to find it online fifteen years after Blair left office without a lengthy search, then it cannot be entirely forgotten and that, rather than any slur on your integrity, was my point.
No apology, no further input from pretty much the only one of your many, many readers who ever bothered responding to your blog.
In the past particularly busy week I have had occasion for work, political, and family reasons to travel to Stoke, Wakefield, Blackpool, Maryport, Oswestry, Birmingham, Carlisle, Penrith, and Workington.
Consequently I have not had a solid block of time to go through the comments posted on my blog and release those awaiting moderation for a week.
So I did delay releasing some of them, but I have not blocked any.
Looking at the stats, I see that there are currently more than 8,800 published comments on this blog. Because a lot of them were anonymous it is impossible for me to be certain how many people have "ever bothered responding" but I can be certain Paul Holdsworth is very far indeed from being "pretty much the only one" who has posted comments here.
Commenting on blogs or, indeed, websites in general is, sadly, not nearly as much a thing as it was when this blog started, but the suggestion that nobody other than Paul ever posted on this blog is rather unfair to Jim King, Gary Bullivant and quite a few others.
I welcome all responses on this blog which are constructive, entertaining, or both, whether I agree with them or not, but to be honest I won't miss posts like the one immediately above.