Recent weeks have confirmed that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson poses a dire risk to the moral health of U.K. society. His canard, borrowed from far-right conspiracists, that Labour Party leader Keir Starmer failed in his previous role as prosecutor to put a notorious pedophile behind bars prompted a mob to assault Starmer in the street. London’s Metropolitan Police are now investigating death threats against him.
Commentators are aghast that Tory members of Parliament have not replaced Johnson with a leader less inclined to incite violence. Even former Conservative Prime Minister John Major recently complained that the party’s “reputation is being shredded” as Johnson forces his colleagues to “defend the indefensible” and asks the public “to believe the unbelievable.”
Together with Republicans in the United States and members of India’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, Britain’s Tories are indeed traveling to a very dark place. Yet it’s not enough to blame these once-respectable right-wing parties for going rogue. The truth is that their decision to stand behind leaders such as Johnson, former U.S. President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reflect a sinister shift in public sentiment.
