Boris Johnson was corrosive to British democracy in many ways, but one of the most obvious is often overlooked. He was so vulgar, so crude in his dishonesty, with his flagrant disregard for integrity and basic decency, that other disreputable politicians could present themselves as honourable by comparison.
Our current prime minister, Rishi Sunak, is a striking case in point. Sunak owes his premiership not to talent or political agility, but to circumstance. He was handed the exchequer because his predecessor, Sajid Javid, refused to sack his advisers and subordinate himself to Johnson’s then right-hand man, Dominic Cummings, and Sunak was considered more pliant. The pandemic then gave Sunak a surge of ill-deserved popularity, because the furlough scheme – similar to that in other rich nations – left his name associated with free money.
