Whither Representative Democracy

Yesterday there was a flurry of excitement inside the Westminster bubble about a ‘vote of confidence’ in Boris Johnson

This farce was already a foregone conclusion that Johnson was going to ‘win’ this as over half of the Conservative Party owed their advancement to to Johnson, and a good chunk are hoping to climb up the greasy pole.

The public had no say in this. Parliament had no say in this. It was all decided by a small group of people to give Johnson a further year of blatant mendacity and no doubt further police involvement once the scale of blatant corruption is exposed during the plague years 2020-21.

Tony Benn, with who I briefly corresponded with despite being on the other side of the political chasm posed this question;

‘What power have you got? Where did you get it from? In whose interests do you exercise it? To whom are you accountable? And how can we get rid of you?” If you cannot get rid of the people who govern you, you do not live in a democratic system.’

I believe that Johnson has laid bare that despite one hundred and forty eight of Conservative MP’s voting against him he thinks he can stagger on from scandal to scandal.

The US Constitution allows for Impeachment; a system inherited from England which has no Constitution.

Impeachment is a process in which the Parliament of the United Kingdom may prosecute and try individuals, normally holders of public office, for high treason or other crimes and misdemeanours. First used to try William Latimer, 4th Baron Latimer during the English Good Parliament of 1376, it was a rare mechanism whereby Parliament was able to arrest and depose ministers of the Crown. The last impeachment was that of Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville in 1806.

This Party has long called for Constitutional Reform. How much more of the man who was publicly booed on the steps of St Paul’s can we take?

I leave you with one further quote from Benn.

“I think there are two ways in which people are controlled. First of all frighten people and secondly, demoralise them”

This is Johnson’s legacy in power

Andrew Withers FRSA