Wednesday, April 13, 2022
Why Johnson must resign
In the grand scheme of things, the issuing of a £50 fixed penalty notice is not a huge matter, but in the case of the Prime Minister, it is a big deal. Johnson has been found not only to have broken laws he, himself, put in place, but in doing so has snubbed the thousands of UK citizens he is supposed to be leading, who sacrificed so much during the pandemic.
Tory MPs, seeking to ingratiate themselves by defending the Prime Minister, have made things worse by comparing the lockdown parties to workplace celebrations, even going as far as to conjure up visions of doctors and nurses enjoying the odd drink of alcohol in between treating chronically ill covid patients. That is a fantasy that suggests they have never been in a hospital, and an insult to all those NHS workers, who gave us everything they had and more, over the last two years.
But the fine and the law-breaking are not the end of it. Johnson has not just broken the law, but he has also overseen law-breaking by his own staff, and he has lied to Parliament about it.
All of these are resigning matters, and the argument that he needs to stay because of the Ukraine crisis does not make any sense. There will always be a crisis, and in this case it is hardly as if Johnson is actually contributing much to resolving it anyway.
In both World Wars, the UK changed Prime Ministers, with both Asquith and Chamberlain being forced out of office. There is precedent for sacking a Prime Ninister in times such as this, and Tory MPs should take it at the earliest possible moment, and send Johnson on his way.
Tory MPs, seeking to ingratiate themselves by defending the Prime Minister, have made things worse by comparing the lockdown parties to workplace celebrations, even going as far as to conjure up visions of doctors and nurses enjoying the odd drink of alcohol in between treating chronically ill covid patients. That is a fantasy that suggests they have never been in a hospital, and an insult to all those NHS workers, who gave us everything they had and more, over the last two years.
But the fine and the law-breaking are not the end of it. Johnson has not just broken the law, but he has also overseen law-breaking by his own staff, and he has lied to Parliament about it.
All of these are resigning matters, and the argument that he needs to stay because of the Ukraine crisis does not make any sense. There will always be a crisis, and in this case it is hardly as if Johnson is actually contributing much to resolving it anyway.
In both World Wars, the UK changed Prime Ministers, with both Asquith and Chamberlain being forced out of office. There is precedent for sacking a Prime Ninister in times such as this, and Tory MPs should take it at the earliest possible moment, and send Johnson on his way.
