Secrecy, Corruption and Cronyism

London: In Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Brutus, musing upon how to save Rome, considers the risk of Caesar, upon being crowned, turning on those who have lifted him up, ‘scorning the base degrees by which he did ascend’. This is not a concern that anyone who helped Boris Johnson rise to power can empathise with, given Johnson has spent his premiership – including much of the government’s pandemic response – distributing the nation’s largesse to those who paved his path to No. 10, rather than to those who can best help the nation. Nor is this largesse merely pecuniary, with the prime minister showing a hitherto unrevealed side to his character by remaining resolutely faithful to his ministerial allies, keeping them in post regardless of how incompetent (Gavin Williamson), how venal (Robert Jenrick), or how malignant (Priti Patel) they may be.

Such corruption and cronyism is fatal to effective government. It dispenses with the normal rules of engagement, turning what should be a democratically accountable institution into the personal fiefdom of the prime minister, where he governs through whims and partisan interests, rather than being guided and bound by rules, conventions and principles. Not only is this harmful from an economic perspective, with the Chancellor’s statement to the House showing how parlous the UK’s finances are, but harmful to the functioning of government. As well as being able to ill afford money being wantonly spent on goods and services that achieve nothing but to line the pockets of Cabinet ministers’ friends and allies, the nation cannot function under a government run on secrecy, deception and hypocrisy.

Read more: Nicholas Reed Langen, Justice Gap: https://is.gd/R7qN4F