The massive issue with our government is trust. The trust in Boris Johnson and his uninspiring crew has been constantly eroded and its credibility repeatedly brought into question as they over-promised and under-delivered across a whole range of issues.
Glib words like “world-class” or “world-beating” fall from Johnson’s lips only to be followed by chaos and failed performance in combatting Covid. Yet people continue to die in increasing numbers.
Johnson’s weakness of being unable to deal with opposition means he selected a greatly impoverished cabinet lacking in experience and competence. Independently minded Tory MPs were excluded from Parliament. His attempts to muzzle opposition newspapers and even the BBC, shows his thin skin.
Max Hastings, his former boss at the Daily Telegraph, wrote of Boris: “He has long been considered a bully, prone to make cheap threats”. Hastings also noted “There is room to debate whether he is a scoundrel or merely a rogue, but not much about his moral bankruptcy, rooted in a contempt for truth.”
Johnson’s main concern seems to be how he can survive on £3,000 a week, from his prime minister’s salary. His failure to be open and transparent about huge government contracts, like on track and trace, opens the door to increasing speculation about government corruption. For example contracts are being awarded to associates of Dominic Cummings without competitive tendering.
Johnson hangs around with rich Russian oligarchs yet refuses to investigate Russian interference in Britain. The refusal to investigate the murder of numerous Russian opposition figures might be connected to Russian donations to his leadership campaign and the Tory Party.
With the Agriculture Bill Johnson has scrapped food standards, opening the door to steroid stuffed beef and chlorinated chicken at the behest of US interest groups. This deliberately attacks both the British people and British farmers.
None of this was in the Tory election manifesto. It is being done by stealth. “Johnson would not recognise truth, if confronted by it in an identity parade”, says his former boss, of his former Brussels correspondent, notorious for his misleading EU reports.
Trust in Angela Merkel is why Germany has done much better with Covid-19. The German people trust her to tell them the truth. Very few people trust Johnson, particularly after he refused to sack Cummings for breaking lockdown. Can we ever trust Boris Johnson again?
