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Politics
Sam Power, Senior Lecturer in Politics, University of Sussex

Boris Johnson no longer has the political capital to get away with giving his dad a knighthood

Boris Johnson Stanley Johnson Corruption Jimmy McNulty Owen Paterson Michael Gove Partygate

As an academic specialising in part in why political corruption happens, the tenure of Boris Johnson (and its aftermath) has provided me with much to consider. Indeed, over the past 18 months, it has felt like I’m getting asked the same question over and over again. After the Owen Paterson affair: is this corruption? After the cash for curtains episode: is this corruption? Partygate: is this corruption?

We’ve had a pretty workable and simple definition of what corruption is for about 30 years. It is the abuse of entrusted power for private gain.

We can use this definition to answer the question in relation to the latest revelations about the Johnson family. The proposal to give Stanley Johnson, Boris Johnson’s father a knighthood: is it corruption?

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