Boris Blows It

Boris Johnson, Leader of Britain's Conservative Party

and Prime Minister of Great Britain since 2019 when

he led the Tories to a resounding electoral victory which

gained them an historic 80-seat majority in Parliament,

recently --- and some say expectedly --- announced his 

resignation from the latter. Having been elected on

the promise to make good on Brexit, promptly 

getting the U.K. out of the European Union, and also

the promise to focus on economic matters, Johnson

campaigned from the right but governed to the left, which

made for confusion, disappointment, and anger from 

not only the people of Britain but from members of his 

own party. 

Prime Minister Johnson said that he would remain as 

PM until a Conservative successor is chosen. What 

brought down the one time high-flying political phenom,

who had been the Lord Mayor of London? Johnson's

government was weakened by a series of scandals,

the most notable being not one but several office parties

while his government imposed lockdowns on the British

people, scolding them into compliance. But the biggest,

and the ugliest, scandal centered on Tory Chief Deputy

Whip Chris Pincher, Boris Johnson's vote wrangler with

allegations of sexual harassment. Prime Minister Johnson

repeatedly claimed he hadn't been aware of them and kept

Pincher (ironic name!) on his team.  

However, the biggest torpedo which helped take Johnson 

down was the failure of his economic agenda. He actually

wanted to build a left-of-center conservatism (?!) with 

its primary focus not on the standard conservative points

of prosperity and making a business-friendly economy but

rather on income redistribution, climate change, and culture

war battling (!!). While Johnson campaigned as a conservative

but governed like a liberal, results were produced leaving

much to be desired by his fellow Tories in Parliament and 

by the British electorate. 

Johnson failed to capitalize on Brexit to turn Britain into an

economic powerhouse. Instead of cutting corporate taxes in

order to attract investment he toyed with the idea of raising 

the corporate tax rate from 19% to 26%. The agenda to invest 

in the economically depressed north of England never happened,

despite promises and assurances aplenty from 10 Downing Street.

To make matters worse, Johnson thought up income redistribution

programs which would not have done nearly as much to help

economically hurting Britons as job creation would have. 

Boris Johnson's painful experience serves as an example of what

is likely to happen when campaigns, then governs as Johnson did.

Moderate/liberal Republicans, are you paying attention? Are you

taking notes?

As if things in Britain weren't bad enough, the country became 

enveloped in an inflation crisis which caused oil and natural gas

prices to soar, along with electricity, causing hardship for people

trying to make their homes comfortable. Of course this is making

the prices of other goods and services go flying as well, especially

affecting the cost of transporting them to market. Rather like in the

U.S., eh wot old chap?

So where do Great Britain's Conservatives turn for effective leader-

ship? A good question. The Tories have to take stock of what they

have learned from this misadventure, and whom should they trust

to repair and strengthen the British economy, and quickly.  And 

believe me, quickly is the operative word here, for Britain hasn't 

got the luxury of time.

MEM