A government neither for the people or by the people: The failure of UK democracy
The UK’s new Prime Minister has assembled one of the most self-serving right-wing cabinets in living memory
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson has become the UK’s 77th Prime Minister, “elected” by less than the population of Jersey to act in the best interests of over 66 million people. Which apparently means assembling one of the most right-wing cabinets in living memory.
Dominic Raab, who’s on record as saying “I don’t support the Human Rights Act”, doesn’t believe in social and economic rights, and said back in 2011 that men are getting a raw deal and that “feminists are now amongst the most obnoxious bigots” is the new Foreign Secretary.
Below is a car-crash radio interview with Lizz Truss, now the UK’s new Secretary of State for International Trade who has had “off the record” meetings with right-wing think tanks that have “driven Trump’s radical program of deregulation and tax cuts”:
Sajid Javid, whose Home Office threatened a woman in a coma with forcible deportation after promising reforms following the Windrush Scandal is now Chancellor. The ex-banker has said he is against the minimum wage, arguing that “in a free market you can’t really dictate how much people should get paid” and has previously stated that the Conservative government should “slash corporate tax rates and burn regulations”.
Replacing him as Home Secretary is Priti Patel, who previously advocated for the death penalty, was forced to resign two years ago for breaching ministerial code over unauthorised meetings with a foreign state and has recently stated that she wants criminals to “literally feel terror” at the thought of breaking the law while at the same time is pushing for the government to have a “back door” into private messaging apps like WhatsApp.
The new Environment Minister, Theresa Villiers, is pro-fracking.
Johnson’s cabinet has been complimented as at least being diverse. Johnson himself, who was once secretly recorded conspiring to have a journalist’s “ribs cracked” as revenge for investigating his friend, has offended everyone from gays to Muslims to Africans with his bigoted views. In 2017 as Foreign Secretary, he said that all Libya needs to do to turn its city of Sirte into the next Dubai is to “clear the dead bodies away”, a comment he has refused to apologise for.
Johnson also tried to dismiss his ties to far-right populist leader and former Donald Trump campaign strategist, Steve Bannon, as a ‘lefty delusion’ until a video emerged of Bannon claiming he helped write Boris Johnson’s resignation speech when he was foreign secretary. Bannon was the vice president of Cambridge Analytica, even coming up with the name, that used US citizen’s Facebook data to help Trump win the 2016 presidential election. Cambridge Analytica was also involved in the Leave.EU campaign and when Johnson was questioned in parliament on why he had a meeting with it’s CEO, Alexander Nix, in December 2016 he simply answered “no idea”.
Johnson now seems determined to unleash a disastrous no-deal Brexit on the British people, something Jersey’s government has made clear is not in its interests. Despite this, Johnson’s ‘election’ was met with congratulations from our leaders. Modern diplomacy now apparently means paying respect to charlatans merely because of the office they hold and subsequently demean.
Like with Trump, there are those unable to grasp the reality of the government that’s taken power. We seem stuck in some Orwellian-Huxley dystopia, endlessly commemorating the defeat of fascism while far-right figures rise across the West promoting an increasingly fascist agenda. Anyone who ponders how the horrors of World War II were able to happen must view today’s political climate as quite the revelation.
But attacking these self-seeking leaders is a futile exercise of whack-a-mole, detracting from the real problem; a broken democratic system that allows those less qualified to be launched into positions they’re clearly unfit for. In a May 2019 report by the Electoral Reform Society titled “Westminster Beyond Brexit: Ending the Politics of Division” the foreword makes clear the current state of UK politics:
The health of our democracy is failing. Our outdated, broken voting system and unelected House of Lords reinforce Westminster’s power-hoarding tendencies, leaving voters powerless and distant from where decisions are made, with no real say over who represents them. New polling for this report shows that two thirds of respondents (67%) feel they have very few or no opportunities to inform and influence the decisions made by MPs at Westminster — only four percent feel they have a lot of opportunities.
While the UK’s politics turns towards a darker path, Jersey appears to be on the right one, with a drive for greater equality, diversity, transparency and fairness in the Island. Along with freedom of expression they represent the great enemies of tyranny, there clearly couldn’t be a better time to come out in strong support of these values.
This article was amended 05/08/2019 to include Lizz Truss’ meeting with right-wing think tanks
