The Resignation of Bad Apple Boris Must Be Followed By A Rethink Of How Politics Works.

 

After three days of resignations and with a marked lack of grace Boris Johnson has agreed to stand down as Prime Minister. He will remain in post until a successor is chosen by Conservative MPs and party members [1].

 

Greens in North Staffordshire have joined co-leader Carla Denya in calling for his exit from Downing Street to be the spur for a rethink of how politics works.

 

Carla Denya said it was a ‘travesty’ that it had taken so long for Johnson to understand that his position was untenable and castigated Tory MPs and ministers who had protected a prime minister who had “lied and lied again in order to cling on to power” [2].

 

She went on to say, “The British public cannot forget the damage the Conservative Party as a whole has wilfully inflicted on this country in the middle of a pandemic, a cost-of-living crisis and the accelerating climate crisis”.

 

Adding that Boris Johnson was not “just one bad apple, the whole tree is rotten” and that the public confidence in politics could only be restored by a general election giving people chance to have their “say on how they want their country run”.

 

A spokesperson for North Staffs Green Party said that Boris Johnson’s resignation speech [3] had been “an exercise in self-justification and evasion, given the opportunity to admit to the mistakes he had made, and the harm done as a result he chose instead to spin and dissemble to the bitter end”.

 

Adding that, “this showed the sense of entitlement and lack of self-awareness that made him unfit to lead the country”.

 

Concern has been expressed about Boris Johnson remaining in post as a caretaker prime minister, Carla Denya said that his staying on would “disappoint” everyone who wanted to see the end of a “truly unedifying period in British politics.”

 

The situation, she said, highlighted the need for a written constitution, which would put procedure in place to determine whether he could stay on until a successor was appointed, the current arrangement based on “honour and gentlemen’s agreements” had never “been fit for purpose but breaks down entirely when faced with such dishonourable politicians as Johnson” [4].

 

The Conservatives promised to set up a Constitution, Democracy and Rights Commission in their 2019 election manifesto, progress on doing so has since then been sluggish [5].

 

Responding to a consultation launched by the Public Administration and Parliamentary Affairs committee in November 2020 the Green Party set out its vision for how a constitution could be created that would modernise the way politics works and give all stakeholders an equal voice [6].

 

Carla Denya said the Green Party would continue to “argue strongly for constitutional reform”, adding that Johnson’s resignation showed it was “time for us all to have our say on how our democracy works, which is why Greens say now is the time for a Constitutional Convention to help us build a true and modern democracy.”

 

[1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-politics-62072419

[2] https://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2022/07/07/greens-call-for-general-election-in-wake-of-boris-johnson-resigning/?link_id=0&can_id=8bc5e413fe5b14a23ca14eb06da17776&source=email-green-party-morning-briefing-thursday-7-july&email_referrer=email_1598927&email_subject=green-party-morning-briefing-friday-8-july

[3] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-62070755

[4] https://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2022/07/08/green-party-calls-for-constitutional-convention-in-wake-of-johnson-resignation/

[5] https://constitution-unit.com/2022/04/12/what-happened-to-the-constitution-democracy-and-rights-commission/

[6]https://www.greenparty.org.uk/assets/files/Communications/PCAC_consultation_Nov2020.pdf