A week or so back, the headlines were full of sacked, disgraced backbencher MP Boris Johnson doing a tour of the USA. He visited republican lawmakers and was pressing the United States to increase aid to Ukraine to help it fight off Russia’s assault.
Leaving aside the fact that Boris Johnson is not the Foreign Secretary or Defence Secretary – the rest of us are wondering who is paying for all this grand-standing. But the real question is Johnson really helping Ukraine because he believes deep down that is what is right, or is he just stoking a war for his own benefit?
Let’s be fair; who reading this has anything invested in Ukraine? No one, that’s who. Ukraine is not a ‘European’ country like the rest of Europe is. It doesn’t qualify for membership of either the EU or Nato for all sorts of reasons. Not least, Ukraine is one of the most corrupt countries in the world. In 2020 it ranked 139 out of 180. In fact, that year, 93 per cent of Ukrainians ranked corruption in the top three problems facing their country. And where was all this corruption emanating from – Russia.
There are other things to consider too. Over 30 per cent of the population of Ukraine speaks Russian as a first language. And Russia and China are in the top three trading countries with Ukraine. As for the UK – we lie very low on the trading list with Ukraine sitting behind Belarus and the Czech Republic.
But my point here is none of these things. If Russia was to be stopped from attacking Ukraine – it should have been stopped. This is especially so given that China, Iran and other hostile states are viewing this situation with great interest. The fact that Putin hasn’t been stopped one year on from his initial invasion is only making things a lot worse. But what next? A long war of attrition? And where will that lead to? If anything, it tells our enemies that the West is too weak to stand up for its own principles.
What if those walking the corridors of power in the Kremlin are hoping things will get so bad for Putin that someone throws him overboard (literally or otherwise)? Do they think that a Jeremy Corbyn-like lefty Commy is going to replace a thug like Putin – with aims to embrace gender recognition and allow gay marriage overnight? I don’t think so. It’s far more likely that Russian generals will lose their temper and do something. In the meantime, You know what’s happening here, don’t you? There is no plan by Boris Johnson other than generating support for Boris Johnson.
This tactic can be seen with the biggest domestic and foreign policy decision the UK has made since WW2 – Brexit. As we all know, Boris Johnson swapped sides when it suited him, jumped ship from Remain to Leave, helped drag Brexit over the line with his lies and had no plan for its outcome – because that wasn’t the point. The point for Boris Johnson was his personal route to No10.
Politically, we now we have something a bit like long-Covid, something we can call ‘long-Johnson.’ This is his toxic legacy that continues to harm the country. Of course, Johnson is still being investigated for having deliberately misled parliament in statements that he has made in the House of Commons over ‘Parygate.’ He is also mired in an inappropriate £800,000 loan scandal with BBC chair Richard Sharp. A cross-party committee of MPs has said the scandal has had a significant negative impact on public trust in the broadcaster.
Long-Johnson continues more widely though. Forget the bullying scandal involving Dominic Raab where over 25 civil service staff have complained about his behaviour – or indeed Nadhim Zahawi, the former Chancellor in charge of tax, not paying his tax. Just this week we have learned that Tory ministers are racking millions on the public purse and enjoying the high life. The Times reports that – “Five-star hotels, VIP airport lounges, flowers, and gifts from Fortnum & Mason are among £145 million of spending on government credit cards.”
Total spending on the taxpayer-funded national credit credit-card has rocketed. And it’s not even that. It’s the Boris Johnson way that ministers have gone about it. Examples include £3,266 of luxury lighting as “computer software” and £3,158 from a five-star hotel in Bahrain described as “accounting, auditing and bookkeeping services” and thousands in fine wines classed as “computer equipment.” Other examples show Government card holders lashing out £11,853 on gifts from Fortnum and Mason and £15,943 from the Royal Collection online shop.
We’ve also learned that the government is set to let off the water companies from their egregious spilling of sewage into streams, rivers and our coastal areas and seas. And whilst a Tory policing minister tells police to catch and prosecute people stealing a sandwich, even if they are suffering from hunger, bankers are getting away with laundering £88 billion of dodgy money in The City of London. One of those banks is Nat West. Its boss refused to attend a parliamentary hearing about not passing interest rate rises to its customers. Apparently, she was too busy. Perhaps she forgot that the taxpayer forked out £47 billion to save its skin in 2009. Perhaps she forgot the taxpayer still owns 45 per cent of the bank. Perhaps she forgot who is actually paying her very large salary (and bonus). After a degree of public outrage, she changed her mind.
It doesn’t stop there. After all the corruption inside the Covid19 supply VIP lanes, this week we also discover that PR firms that worked for the government during the pandemic have been hired to manage the voices of bereaved families at the official Covid-19 inquiry.
The revelation that PR giant M&C Saatchi and 23Red will be working on the ‘listening exercise’ – a key part of the investigation into the government’s handling of the pandemic that claimed at least 200,000 lives – has sparked outrage from survivors and victims’ families. Hardly surprising, is it, given the sheer scale of the conflict of interest? And yet, it’s the brazenness of the government – like the actions of Boris Johnson that this type of thing happens in the first place.
The Institute for Government has reported this week that the flagship ‘levelling-up’ agenda of Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and the entirety of the Leave campaign that made promises to those in the so-called ‘red-wall – doesn’t have a hope of delivering anything tangible. This is because it too, doesn’t have a proper plan. It too was a slogan, and it too, will fail.
It’s dire, isn’t it!
In the meantime, Boris Johnson is putting Britain’s head above the parapet and stoking a war with Russia. You know why and you know in the long run it won’t end well.