There are many lessons still to learn from the pandemic, but there is no mystery about Boris Johnson’s conduct. He broke the rules of lockdown and lied about it. The exposure of his behaviour drained public support away from him and his party. Those facts are not altered by news that fresh allegations relating to the use of the prime ministerial country retreat at Chequers have been reported to police.
A Tory faction is outraged on behalf of their former leader, insisting that he is the victim of a conspiracy – a “witch-hunt” conducted by a liberal “blob” operating through the civil service. This sinister entity is said also to have targeted Dominic Raab, who resigned last month over claims of bullying, and Suella Braverman, who is alleged to have breached the ministerial code by trying to involve department officials in the handling of a speeding ticket.
After days of dither, the prime minister on Wednesday accepted the home secretary’s defence – that she was only concerned about security protocols, but accepted points on her licence and a fine once it was clear that no bespoke alternative was possible – and declared the case closed.
Rishi Sunak can expect no gratitude from Ms Braverman and her supporters. The prime minister’s indulgence will confirm to disgruntled Tory MPs that he is pliable, not that he is ideologically sound. The suspicion is that the whole business has been confected by the home secretary’s enemies. They are numerous when defined as the set of all people who disagree with her or think she is incompetent.
Meanwhile, acolytes of Mr Johnson are especially ill-disposed to the current prime minister because they recall his resignation in July 2022 as instrumental in their hero’s downfall. The events of last summer have been woven into a martyrdom myth that charts Conservative decline from a loss of faith in the unique election-winning powers of “Boris”.
That narrative ignores all the evidence – enough available at the time and more that has subsequently come to light – that Mr Johnson was unfit for office. The persistence of the denial testifies to ethical and intellectual debilitation in the Conservative party. It is also a symptom of Mr Sunak’s weakness. A leader with robust authority and a clear sense of governing purpose would have more effectively repudiated Mr Johnson’s legacy.
The incumbent prime minister struggles with this task for various reasons. He was elevated to Downing Street to restore financial credibility and basic governing competence, in the aftermath of Liz Truss’s short and calamitous reign. But relative stability turns out not to be sufficient for a polling renaissance, and Mr Sunak lacks a more coherent agenda. His support in the wider party has shallow roots. He was defeated by Ms Truss in last summer’s leadership contest. Most problematically, he served loyally as Mr Johnson’s chancellor for the very period that he would now prefer to see fade from memory.
Mr Johnson and his supporters won’t let that happen. The Covid inquiry, now engaged in dispute with the government over disclosure of evidence, won’t let it happen. Mr Sunak tried to sell his leadership as a restoration of integrity and capability in office, but his bluff has been called. He cannot exorcise the ghosts of rotten Tory government when he is one of them. This will surely turn out to be problem for the country as well as the party.
