Change of leadership has been an issue on the African continent, but in long established democracies such as Britain and America there has been the assumption that leaders would play by the rules. However, in recent years we have witnessed the spectacle of a sitting American president who would not accept electoral defeat and egged on his followers to attack the Capital. But despite his claims that the election was rigged, the system held, and he was forced to leave office – heel marks all the way.
This week we have witnessed another western leader clinging to power. Boris Johnston has always believed that rules do not apply to him. He seems to be a classic example of someone born into an upper class family who has a strong sense of entitlement. In a school report, when he was only seventeen years old, the teacher said, ‘I think he really believes that it is churlish of us not to regard him as an exception, one who should be free of the network of obligations that bind everyone else.’
This characteristic of Boris Johnston appears to have worked for him in the development of his career because, although he has repeatedly lied and broken his promises, he climbed the ladder of success in both journalism and politics. When Britain was in the throes of the Brexit debate he was undecided which camp to support, and he penned two newspaper columns, one in support of leaving and another in support of staying. He had no strong conviction but wished to lean in the direction that would serve his political career. In the event he went with the leave version, and together with Dominic Cummings they won the Brexit vote, taking Britain out of the European Union. Johnston supported Brexit purely in the interests of furthering his political career. He fully expected to be made Prime Minister subsequently, but his friend and supporter Michael Gove stabbed him in the back by stating that he was unfit to be Prime Minister, and he did not survive that leadership campaign. However, in the wake of subsequent infighting in the Conservative Party, Theresa May resigned and he had another opportunity to become leader. He won that election and then went on to win a landslide majority for the Conservative Party under the slogan ‘Let’s get Brexit done.’
Over the next three years as Prime Minister he should have been in a very strong position, but instead there was a series of petty scandals that need not have happened, but illustrated his sense of entitlement. In ‘Partygate’ he broke the Covid rules that had been made by his own government, much to the annoyance of the British people. In Africa we have become used to having one rule for the elite and another for the people, but in Britain the leaders are held to a higher standard. Boris still believed he could break the rules and get away with it, but someone snitched, and he ended up being fined by the police. The latest scandal was around the appointment of his friend and loyal supporter to a senior government position, despite knowing the gentleman’s sexual proclivity – to grope other men. Boris had even remarked that the gentleman whose name is Chris Pincher was ‘Pincher by name and pincher by nature.’ In the event Mr Pincher lived up to his name and groped two men at a private club causing another scandal. The fact that the Prime Minister had been warned not to appoint him proved to be the last straw for the Party.
Only two weeks prior the Conservative Party had held a vote of no confidence, which he survived, but due to this further avoidable scandal over fifty members of his government then resigned. During the spate of resignations Michael Gove called on him to tell him to step down, but he refused and instead fired Gove. Clinging to leadership is not an African condition; it is a human condition. The difference is that the institutions of western countries are generally able to withstand the onslaught of a leader who does not want to leave. Boris Johnston did not want to resign and had survived a no confidence vote, but in the end he was forced out by the mass resignation of his cabinet. His slogan in the previous general election had been ‘Let’s get Brexit done’ and when he was clinging on to power one newspaper ran the apt headline ‘Let’s get Exit done’ and in the end he was forced to exit.
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