Surely we deserve and should expect far better than this?

In May 1995, the "Seven Principles of Public Life" were published. 

Enunciated by Lord Nolan, they were developed as a response to the “sleaze” that engulfed the later stages of the Conservative Government of John Major.

The Nolan principles set out the ethical standards to which all those who work in the public sector should adhere. At the time of their publication, I was working as a senior manager in a local authority and I do have a recollection of their application to local government.

The Committee on Standards in Public Life is an advisory non-departmental public body of the UK Government, established in 1994 to advise the Prime Minister on ethical standards in public life. It promotes a code of conduct around the Nolan principles named after the first Chairman of the Committee, Lord Nolan.

The "Seven Principles of Public Life" are:

Selflessness – Holders of public office should act solely in terms of the public interest.

Integrity – Holders of public office must avoid placing themselves under any obligation to people or organisations that might try inappropriately to influence them in their work. They should not act or take decisions to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves, their family, or their friends. They must declare and resolve any interests and relationships.

Objectivity – Holders of public office must act and take decisions impartially, fairly and on merit, using the best evidence and without discrimination or bias.

Accountability – Holders of public office are accountable to the public for their decisions and actions and must submit themselves to the scrutiny necessary to ensure this.

Openness – Holders of public office should act and take decisions in an open and transparent manner. Information should not be withheld from the public unless there are clear and lawful reasons for so doing.

Honesty – Holders of public office should be truthful.

Leadership – Holders of public office should exhibit these principles in their own behaviour. They should actively promote and robustly support the principles and be willing to challenge poor behaviour wherever it occurs.

I think most people would, or should, reasonably expect the Prime Minister, the most senior public office holder in the UK, to set and lead by example.

However, our current Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, clearly fails to include any of the "Seven Principles of Public Life" on his “to do” list.

Every week that he occupies Number 10, and indeed for all his public life and for as long as he has held public office, it has become clear that Boris Johnson is a man who comprehensively fails the Nolan test and who brings the office of Prime Minister into utter disrepute.

Our current Prime Minister is a habitual and serial liar and rule-breaker, a man with a lifelong contempt for the norms of decent behaviour and with a career history of behaving as if he can get away with anything.

When someone as “mad and totally unethical” as Dominic Cummings hits out at a “mad and totally unethical” Boris Johnson, you just know there is a problem!

If you have missed the latest story to emerge regarding our Prime Minister and his Government, don’t worry, there is bound to be another one along very shortly. They are much more reliable in their frequency than my local buses!

This is not about the £800 roll of wallpaper for the Downing Street flat with which so much of the media is currently obsessing over, although even that extravagance when so many people are struggling financially also exposes a complete failure to abide by the long-standing rules. That is a scandal in itself and a potential breach of the Ministerial Code. In refusing to tell us who paid for the refurbishment of the Downing Street flat, or indeed who paid for his December 2019 holiday in Mustique, Boris Johnson has offended the public trust.

However, what we have going on here is about so much more than soft furnishings and holidays and here are a just a few examples.

Whilst Boris Johnson was accumulating an estimated £200,000 on home decoration, his Government was pushing through a post-Grenfell Fire Safety Bill that threatens ordinary leaseholders with financial ruin by saddling them with the cost of ridding their homes of cladding and other hazards that are a danger to their lives.

By breaking the Conservative Party’s 2019 manifesto pledge and slashing the UK’s aid budget (0.7% of GDP) which is set in law, Boris Johnson has cut our contribution to the UN effort on HIV/AIDSs, cut our contribution to life-saving water and sanitation projects by 80% and cut many other programmes that could have prevented disease and deaths in the world’s poorest countries. A complete absence of a moral and ethical compass!

Then there is the Covid-19 pandemic and the appalling state of preparedness and lack of resilience in our country due to 10 years of financial austerity followed by the appalling mis-management of the crisis from early last year. The UK has a death toll of 127,500 that remains the highest in Europe plus the deepest economic slump in the G7 economies. The Government delayed lockdowns on 3 separate occasions, unlocked too soon after the first lockdown, seeded Covid-19 in care homes, kept our borders open and Boris Johnson himself failed to attend the first 5 Cobra meetings last spring to provide any sense of focus, priority and leadership.

If all this wasn’t enough, during the Covid-19 pandemic, we have seen rampant cronyism and corruption with contracts awarded to Conservative Party friends and donors and even family members with due diligence being seen as optional or unnecessary. We have seen £37 billion committed to outsourcing a test, track and trace programme to the private sector that has never really worked.

We have seen Boris Johnson’s support and backing for Dominic Cummings, even as he blatantly breached Government lockdown restrictions with his trip to Barnard Castle and his mobile eye-test.

We have seen Boris Johnson’s failure to sack Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary Robert Jenrick, even after he rushed through an “unlawful” planning decision that would save Richard Desmond, yet another Conservative Party donor, £45m in local taxes.

We have seen Boris Johnson’s failure to sack Home Secretary Priti Patel, even after she had been found to have broken the Ministerial Code in respect of bullying of civil servants.

We have seen Boris Johnson’s failure to sack Education Secretary Gavin Williamson, even after he had presided over an exams fiasco that threatened to damage the life chances and opportunities of thousands of young people.

And just in case anyone still thinks that “Brexit is done”, history will record the dishonesty, lying and false promises prior to the 2016 referendum in which only 37% voted for Brexit and which has led to our complete isolation as a country and long-lasting damage to our economy and society. History will also record Boris Johnson’s illegal suspension of Parliament which was overturned as a violation of fundamental democratic practice by a unanimous verdict of the Supreme Court. Brexit now threatens the Good Friday Agreement and the hard won peace in Northern Ireland due to its contradictions that are impossible to resolve and the lies from Boris Johnson and it may well lead to the potential break-up of the UK with Scotland seeking independence and a surging interest for the same in Wales.

Even prior to entering Parliament, Boris Johnson was at it. He had a record of “spaffing” (to use his term) Londoners’ money up the wall on a number of failed vanity projects that were either unused or unworkable, whilst he somehow managed to boost the entrepreneurial efforts of his lover, Jennifer Arcuri, who was the recipient of substantial sums of public money.

And then there are Boris Johnson’s appalling comments: a “half-Kenyan” Barack Obama, Muslim women as “bank robbers” and “letterboxes”, Africans as “piccaninnies” with “watermelon smiles” and Liverpool supporters as “drunken fans” causing the death of 96 people at Hillsborough.

Should anyone forget, Boris Johnson has also previously been sacked for lying as a Government Minister and as a journalist at The Times.

Just this week, Boris Johnson has made yet another scandalous decision. He has decided that the Prime Minister can be the ultimate arbiter of the Ministerial Code that he has himself broken. He has given himself the power to decide when and whether to investigate himself, thereby making him judge and jury in his own case. He has given himself the power to decide whether to ignore the outcomes of any investigation in to a Government Minister’s conduct or behaviour and refuse to sack them even if grounds are proven.

Yes, Boris Johnson is a man who comprehensively fails the Nolan test and who brings the office of Prime Minister into utter disrepute.

However, what is so utterly depressing about all of this is that the Conservative Party is still performing well in the opinion polls. What is it about vast numbers of the electorate that can not see beyond the “good old Boris” image and accept him as a funny clown and buffoon but completely fail to see his true character and what a threat he is to a functioning democracy, a well-performing economy and a decent society?

Maybe, just maybe, things are about to change. Boris Johnson’s wild rant at Prime Ministers Questions last week has not been seen before so perhaps the criticism on so many fronts and from so many sources is starting to get under the skin of the self-proclaimed and self-entitled “World King”.

Just over 100 days ago, the people of the US finally got rid of their lying, obnoxious, self-serving and scandal-ridden President. The UK people should find the strength and courage to do the same when they have the opportunity .... or perhaps the more decent and honourable members of the Conservative Party will remove him for us.

Either way, let's hope we see the end of Boris Johnson very soon and that the great office of Prime Minister can once more be held by someone who recognises and believes in the Seven Principles of Public Life.

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