Alison O'Connor: How much lower will Boris Johnson go before the British people stand up to him?

It's disturbing that our nearest neighbour is led by this lying, philandering, self-interested, and callous man

British prime minister Boris Johnson will do anything, it seems, to save that which is of most importance to him — which is himself. File picture

"I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters, OK,” said US presidential candidate Donald Trump in 2016. “It’s, like, incredible.”

It was incredible then and remains so six years later, more than a year after Trump stopped being US president. But the notion of just how low certain political leaders are allowed to go has moved far closer to home. 

To adapt the question geographically, just how many Conservative MPs would continue to fail to move against Boris Johnson as British prime minister if he stood in the middle of London’s Oxford St and shot somebody? What, you have to wonder, is it eventually going to take?

Granted, it is a rather extreme example. But it is all just getting madder as the days go on. Since this man came to office in July 2019, there appears, for many Conservative party MPs, to be no floor below which Johnson can go in terms of scandal. Nothing he can do in this marathon car crash that will result in him getting the boot.

Himself shrouded in controversy, Dominic Cummings described his former boss Boris Johnson as 'a shopping trolley smashing from one side of the aisle to the other'. File picture: PA

Attacking him for his apparent inability to lead the country, his former adviser Dominic Cummings described Boris as “a shopping trolley smashing from one side of the aisle to the other”. It was one of those things that immediately caught on with so many observers recognising it as the truth.

Now that he does seem in actual trouble, it’s interesting it wasn’t the Covid deaths — the UK had some of the worst figures in terms of death tolls in the first wave of Covid — that have done for him, or the fact that  you couldn’t believe daylight from him on any issue, or that he happily takes money from rich blokes for domestic redecorating.

No, it’s the repeated leaking of details about a number of parties that took place in Downing Street during Covid lockdowns that seem to be some sort of final straw. But then again, not really, since he is still prime minister.

What has happened to the standards of the British people? How could they have fallen so far that a lying, philandering, self-interested, callous man remains their leader? After losing five close aides last week, the spin was put on it by Johnson’s inner circle that it was now all about bringing in “capable, grown-up people” into the Downing Street operation. So, two and a half years in, Boris Johnson is finally getting a “grown-up” team in to help him run the country. One of those new “grown-ups”, his new communications director Guto Harri, gave an interview saying Boris is “not a complete clown”.

There is so much to file under ‘you couldn’t make this up’. Still he remains in charge.

How can so many remain so blinkered to the reality of Boris? Is it that, having gone so far with him — all the way out of the EU — it seemed too appalling a vista to consider him and the strategy were the wrong choices?

Everyone knew what Boris was like before he got the top job. This was a man who jumped on the Brexit bandwagon at the last minute, after concluding that this was what was best for Boris. No one was really sure what he stood for and his tomfoolery/buffoonery seemed to find enormous favour — even when the deaths were piling up from Covid and so many UK citizens persisted in a belief that: “Poor Boris is doing his best.”

He will do anything, it seems, to save that which is of most importance to him — which is himself.

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We have seen that first hand with the North and the manner in which he has dealt with that. It may not be firing a gun on Oxford St but, given the history of the North, such cynical manouvering with the EU as has gone on, genuinely does bring a risk to life.

As the situation gets more unstable again, the notion that the British prime minister might act in any way that could bring about a sustainable situation — securing peace rather than poking at a volatile situation — is risible.

Johnson throws his political opponents to the wolves 

Jo Cox MP was murdered by a far-right extremist shouting 'Britain first' in 2016. Boris Johnson dismissed as 'humbug' Paula Sherriff MP's appeal to moderate his inflammatory language which is seen as legitimising death threats and verbal or even violent attacks on MPs. Picture: Jo Cox Foundation/PA

Remember those times in the House of Commons when the Brexit drama escalated hugely? The high-stakes votes? Prorogation of parliament? It was back in 2019 when he would regularly accuse those who disagreed with him of “surrender” and “betrayal” and being a “traitor”, deliberately whipping up anger. 

On one occasion, Labour MP Paula Sherriff begged him to moderate his “offensive, dangerous, inflammatory” language. She told of the threats that she and other female colleagues were receiving.

Boris’ response? He said he had never heard “such humbug” in all his life. He said “the best way to honour Jo Cox is to get Brexit done”.

Jo Cox, of course, is the British Labour MP who was killed by a far-right extremist in a shooting and stabbing, who shouted “Britain first”. David Amess was the Conservative MP stabbed to death during a constituency clinic last October. On the surface at any rate, the killing of these political colleagues appears to have left Johnson unmoved, given his refusal to dial down the dangerous rhetoric. Observing it from the outside, particularly the death of Amess, there seems to be a type of desensitisation among the British public. Shocked but not stunned.

Then, last week, there was the angry mob who surrounded Labour leader Keir Starmer shouting “traitor” at him but also “Jimmy Savile” and “paedophile protector”.

This, following Boris putting himself in the same space as QAnon nutters, with a blatant effort to stoke hate against the opposition leader by falsely suggesting that Starmer, a former director of public prosecutions, had protected Savile. 

Keir Starmer had to be bundled to safety after protestors chanting 'Jimmy Savile' and 'paedophile protector' surrounded the British Labour Party leader — echoing false accusations made by prime minister Boris Johnson in Parliament. Picture: Conor Noon/PA Wire

The prime minister refuses to apologise, except for a spokesman saying his words were “capable of being misconstrued”. Some Conservative MPs said afterwards they were appalled by what had been said and linked it directly to the attack. But so many others rowed in behind Boris.

Labour MP Chris Bryant had the measure of it when he tweeted: “This is appalling. People were shouting all sorts at Keir, including ‘Jimmy Savile’. This is what happens when a prime minister descends into the gutter and recycles lies from hard-right conspiracy theorists. Political poison has an effect. Johnson has no moral compass.”

It’s curious to try and listen to British commentators make sense of the political situation there at present. Because it makes no sense. In the US during Trump’s presidency, you could be shocked at what you were seeing and hearing, but make some semblance of sense out of it by seeing the absolute polarisation of the Republicans and Democrats. The enormous antipathy between both sides, the lengths they would go to.

Political poison has an effect. Johnson has no moral compass! pic.twitter.com/yQU8ILqI33

— Chris Bryant (@RhonddaBryant) February 7, 2022

Exactly how Boris Johnson remains prime minister when so many standards of decency, lawfulness, and common sense have been trampled over are far less clear.

How far British politics has descended is shown in the ongoing questions — about who might take over, whether Johnson should remain until after the local elections in May, or if the opinion polls might improve — still being asked. Not that he simply should be gone.

It’s actually quite disturbing to watch and it’s not played out yet.