Goodbye Boris

Boris Johnson agreed to resign as UK Prime Minister Thursday, following a string of departures that included Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid, whose resignations described a wholly untenable situation at No 10.

“Enough is enough,” Javid told lawmakers, explaining his decision. “The reset button can only work so many times.” Johnson’s health secretary went on to say there’s something “fundamentally wrong” with Boris’s government. “Treading the tightrope between loyalty and integrity has become impossible in recent months,” he added.

Sunak expressed “deep sadness” in his resignation letter. The former Chancellor, who Ladbrokes had leading the race to eventually replace Johnson as of Thursday, suggested Boris wasn’t capable of conducting government “competently and seriously.” “We both want a low-tax, high-growth economy, and world class public services, but this can only be responsibly delivered if we are prepared to work hard, make sacrifices and take difficult decisions,” he told Johnson, ahead of what would’ve been a joint speech on the economy next week. “Our approaches are fundamentally too different,” Sunak said. “We cannot continue like this.”

Nadhim Zahawi, who Johnson appointed to replace Sunak as Chancellor on Tuesday, called on Boris to “go now” less than 48 hours later. “Yesterday, I made clear to the Prime Minister alongside my colleagues in No 10 that there was only one direction where this was going, and that he should leave with dignity,” Zahawi said, in a statement. “Out of respect, and in the hopes that he would listen to an old friend of 30 years, I kept this counsel private. I am heartbroken that he hasn’t listened.”

Johnson’s government is (I suppose “was” is more accurate now) perpetually beset by what appear as petty scandals. That’s certainly not to trivialize the egregious breach of the public trust inherent in alcohol-fueled lockdown parties attended by government officials. Nor is it to suggest that Johnson’s apparent lies about allegations of “groping” by an MP and a likewise hapless response to a lobbying scandal involving another lawmaker, don’t suggest a pattern of obfuscation unbecoming of a head of state. It’s just to say that in a world on fire and, forgive me, in consideration of how unbecoming Boris always was anyway, the events that led to his downfall felt anticlimactic — more last straw than blaze of glory, especially considering the lengths to which he went to “deliver” Brexit in the early days of his tenure, which some critics described as borderline undemocratic.

In 2022, the UK has bigger problems than Boris, but “the problem starts at the top,” as Javid put it. The country is battling the worst cost of living crisis in modern history (figure below) and by most accounts is set to be the worst performer among major developed economies in a very challenging year defined by soaring inflation and decelerating growth as consumers grapple with sky-high prices for basic necessities.

Inflation will likely run into the double-digits later this year, and the Bank of England is attempting to balance its inflation-fighting mandate with the risk rate hikes pose to an already decelerating economy.

The figure on the left (below) shows the scope and breakdown of the UK’s inflation problem. The figure on the right illustrates how rising prices are impacting average earnings.

Plainly, it’s not Johnson’s fault that Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine. But Johnson’s government, including and especially Sunak, struggled to craft a coherent plan for addressing acute economic hardship. That assessment comes with the caveat that Johnson was attempting the impossible: Even the most competent of leaders, a group to which Boris most assuredly doesn’t belong, are at pains to balance competing economic and social priorities with geopolitical imperatives. There’s no optimal solution. Only a decision set comprised of piecemeal policies destined to leave everyone unsatisfied.

Again, I should emphasize that none of that is to make excuses for Johnson. As longtime readers are well apprised, I was never a fan of Johnson’s, and Brexit was pure, unadulterated folly. It was Johnson’s pseudo-demagogic commitment to that folly (“Get Brexit Done”) which propelled Conservatives to the most resounding election victory since 1987. Beyond Brexit, it’s never been entirely clear what, exactly, Johnson wanted to accomplish. His cartoonish demeanor didn’t belie any underlying knack for guile, strategic brilliance or even a nefarious agenda that might at least suggest he possessed the capacity to organize a plan — any plan, really.

As Conservative MP and former minister Jeremy Hunt put it last month, when Johnson survived a no confidence vote, Boris simply lacks “integrity, competence and vision.” He’s hardly unique in that regard among Western leaders, virtually none of whom possess even one of those virtues, let alone all three. And notwithstanding Johnson’s initially nonchalant attitude towards COVID (which nearly cost him his life), he got serious and the UK did vaccinate a lot of people very quickly.

But Boris had become a liability. His reluctance to step down this week amid a concerted effort by MPs to help him read the writing on the wall was an irritant, especially in the context of two lost Tory seats last month, when voters expressed their displeasure at the government’s handling of the UK’s economic crisis.

On Thursday, Johnson said he’s “sad to be giving up the best job in the world.” He’ll stay on as caretaker until a new leader is in place.