Boris Johnson, the scandal machine

It took 57 resignations from within the British government to convince Boris Johnson that his turn had come. The prime minister agreed, on Thursday, June 7, to leave power. He first stepped down as the head of the Conservative Party, then announced his resignation as Prime Minister when the Conservatives agree on his successor.

However, he still assured the day before that a prime minister “does not leave in the middle of a crisis.” But perhaps Boris Johnson has finally realized that this is not a single crisis, but his multiplication or the “tsunami of scandals” that has marked his mandate since 2019.

Johnson would therefore have ended up exhausting the nine lives that British political commentators have given him to describe his ability to pick himself up after each new revelation.

Chris Pincher, one more sex scandal. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back. But what a drop. In February 2022, Boris Johnson appointed Chris Pincher a “whip” deputy chief in charge of disciplining Conservative MPs.

This was not the most prominent position in the small British political world, and Chris Pincher was almost unknown to the general public. Little did we know that he was loyal to the “Johnsonnian” cause.

It didn’t take long for the media to realize that some people knew Chris Pincher had a lot of baggage. He had been repeatedly accused of sexual assault. The reminder of this great responsibility caused the new deputy “whip” to resign on June 30.

The big question then was: Was Boris Johnson aware of this past when he brought in Chris Pincher? The prime minister first claimed he knew nothing about it, before admitting on Tuesday that he was aware of “articles in the press mentioning allegations.”

Thus, in a few days, the Pincher affair became a concentrate of the great scandals that marked the ‘BoJo’ era: sexual adventures and a prime minister who lies about what he knows or does not know.

The ubiquitous ‘Partygate’. More than an embarrassing affair for Boris Johnson, it became the soap opera of his term. On November 30, 2021, the ‘Daily Mirror’ revealed that at least one party took place at 10 Downing Street during Christmas 2020, when the rest of the country was in lockdown and Britons could barely see their loved ones. loved ones during the year-end holidays.

But it was only the beginning of the revelations about this scandal that gave the image of a government that felt above the law. Over the weeks, the UK media uncovered more than 15 parties at various government departments, including a party for Boris Johnson’s birthday in June 2020.

Johnson began by assuring that he was not aware of anything, before assuring that the “meetings” he was able to attend were strictly professional. Finally, he promised to do everything possible to identify those who had broken health regulations.

Explanations that did not convince (almost) anyone, starting an official administrative investigation to try to find out who participated and who knew about it. London police even launched their own investigation into 13 “meetings”, including three attended by Boris Johnson, to find out if they complied with lockdown rules in place at the time.

The two procedures – administrative and police – concluded that there were serious failures in the Government, but without ever directly implicating Boris Johnson. However, this scandal left a very bitter aftertaste in the mouths of many Britons, who witnessed the spectacle of a prime minister who changed his version of events many times in an attempt to save his job.

Owen Paterson, friend of the lobbies. Owen Paterson, a former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in the early 2010s and a leading Conservative MP, was pressured to resign in November 2021 over serious ethical failings.

His mistake? Accepting money for several years from various pressure groups – mainly from the agricultural sector – to defend their case before the government, violating parliamentary rules.

What does this have to do with Boris Johnson? Owen Paterson was not only close to the prime minister, but he intervened to try to prevent him from being sanctioned. In particular, Johnson had argued that the parliamentary inquiry was unfair and did not give Owen Paterson enough opportunity to make his case.

Construction work at 11 Downing Street. Who paid for the redecoration of Boris Johnson’s flat at 11 Downing Street? In February 2021, a scandal broke out in the UK when the press revealed that the Prime Minister had not paid out of pocket for the refurbishment and decoration of his official flat.

Formally, the premier has a budget of 30,000 pounds (35,000 euros) to maintain his flat… and any additional expenses must come from his own funds. The renovation of 11 Downing Street cost over £100,000… and a generous Conservative Party donor footed the bill.

Boris Johnson personally got away with a simple warning because he was able to argue that he was in hospital with Covid-19 when work on the flat began. Therefore, he was officially unaware of the bill. But the Electoral Commission – which regulates the accounts of political parties – was not aware.

Free vacation. Another big-money affair: How was Boris Johnson’s summer vacation spent in the sun in the summer of 2019 on the very opulent Mustique Island in the Caribbean archipelago financed?

It took several months for the British Prime Minister to explain that a wealthy Conservative Party donor had graciously placed a luxury villa at his disposal.

A free vacation that is not illegal, but that the parliamentary commission regretted in July 2021 that the premier had taken so long to clarify.

Sex, sex and more sex. The sex scandals that have emerged during Johnson’s tenure are too numerous to detail. In total, seven Conservative MPs have been charged with multiple sexual assaults against women, men and minors.

Johnson is not linked to any of these sordid affairs, but has been accused by the Labor opposition of keeping a very low profile whenever new revelations have been published. And one of the few times he has intervened was to defend his party’s decision not to expel one of its members accused of rape.

*Adapted from its original French version.