🇬🇧 The Omicron wave of the Covid-19 pandemic is accompanied by a deepening leadership crisis in British politics.
1️⃣ First, the irresponsible conduct of the prime minister himself. He has always had the reputation of someone who is above the laws of decency and honesty, let alone truthfulness. In the past this for many was part of his insouciant charm, allowing him to win the London mayoral elections twice, to emerge triumphant in the Brexit vote of June 2016 and above all to win the general election of December 2019 with a handsome majority of 80 for the Conservatives. It looked finally that he was running out of road, and his cheery ‘cakeist’ ideology (having his cake and eating it) would no longer wash.
2️⃣ Second, the crisis revealed the degeneration of the Conservative Party itself, a process that in its modern guise was set in train by Margaret Thatcher. At that time the party lost most of what makes a party ‘conservative’ and instead it embraced radical neoliberal positions.
3️⃣ The third point is the larger socio-economic context. There is a severe cost-of-living crisis, with energy prices at record levels, inflation rising, wages largely stagnant and a range of tax increases on their way.
The gulf between the promise and the delivery is widening, the political distance between the devolved administrations growing, and the distrust between the government and people deepening. Ultimately, Britain is suffering not only a crisis of governance but entering into a fully-fledged crisis of the state, writes Valdai Club expert Richard Sakwa.
🔗 Covid and Leadership Crisis in Britain — https://bit.ly/3qRNHJZ
🔵 The article is published within the framework of a new Valdai Club programme “Norms and values”.
#Norms_and_Values #UK #BorisJohnson
@valdai_club — The Valdai Discussion Club
1️⃣ First, the irresponsible conduct of the prime minister himself. He has always had the reputation of someone who is above the laws of decency and honesty, let alone truthfulness. In the past this for many was part of his insouciant charm, allowing him to win the London mayoral elections twice, to emerge triumphant in the Brexit vote of June 2016 and above all to win the general election of December 2019 with a handsome majority of 80 for the Conservatives. It looked finally that he was running out of road, and his cheery ‘cakeist’ ideology (having his cake and eating it) would no longer wash.
2️⃣ Second, the crisis revealed the degeneration of the Conservative Party itself, a process that in its modern guise was set in train by Margaret Thatcher. At that time the party lost most of what makes a party ‘conservative’ and instead it embraced radical neoliberal positions.
3️⃣ The third point is the larger socio-economic context. There is a severe cost-of-living crisis, with energy prices at record levels, inflation rising, wages largely stagnant and a range of tax increases on their way.
The gulf between the promise and the delivery is widening, the political distance between the devolved administrations growing, and the distrust between the government and people deepening. Ultimately, Britain is suffering not only a crisis of governance but entering into a fully-fledged crisis of the state, writes Valdai Club expert Richard Sakwa.
🔗 Covid and Leadership Crisis in Britain — https://bit.ly/3qRNHJZ
🔵 The article is published within the framework of a new Valdai Club programme “Norms and values”.
#Norms_and_Values #UK #BorisJohnson
@valdai_club — The Valdai Discussion Club
Valdai Club
Covid and Leadership Crisis in Britain
The gulf between the promise and the delivery is widening, the political distance between the devolved administrations growing, and the distrust between the government and people deepening. Ultimately, Britain is suffering not only a crisis of governance…