Like his predecessor Theresa May, Boris Johnson hemmed himself in with his own red lines. Photo / AP
Like his predecessor Theresa May, Boris Johnson hemmed himself in with his own red lines. Photo / AP
OPINION: The FT View
Rarely has a UK prime minister's strategy imploded so rapidly, and so spectacularly. In two days, Boris Johnson has become the first premier since the Earl of Rosebery in 1894 to lose his first parliament vote, and seen MPs back a bill to force him totake a course he has categorically ruled out. He has collapsed his own working majority from one to minus 43 — by backing himself into a position where he was forced to sack 21 rebels, including two former Conservative chancellors and the grandson of his political hero, Winston Churchill. He has led his party to the brink of a historic split. His plan to strike back with a snap election is hostage to his opponents' agreement.
The so-called Rebel Alliance of MPs who took control of parliament's agenda and supported a law mandating Johnson to seek an extension to Brexit beyond October 31 deserve high praise. The Conservatives among them put national interest ahead of their careers and loyalty to a party some had served for decades. Most important, MPs asserted parliamentary sovereignty and cut down to size a prime minister who, by suspending the House for five weeks, had sought to bypass it.
They were impelled to act by a catalogue of prime ministerial mis-steps. Like his predecessor Theresa May, Johnson hemmed himself in with his own red lines. History did indeed repeat itself — not as tragedy but as farce. He adopted his "do or die" pledge to leave the EU at Halloween with or without a deal. Then, by insisting the backstop designed to prevent a hard border in Ireland must be scrapped, he set the bar for renegotiations with Brussels so high that it cast doubt on his sincerity in wanting a deal. He has since brought no workable new proposals.
As premier, Johnson handed control of strategy and the Downing Street apparatus to the maverick Brexiter Dominic Cummings. He adopted bullying tactics, outraging the Commons, and many beyond, with last week's move to prorogue it. The prime minister's duplicitous explanations — with revelations in a Scottish court case this week that he planned the move two weeks earlier — again put his trustworthiness in question. Threatening to expel Tory rebels, and introducing a US-style perp walk with armed police marching a "disloyal" adviser from Downing Street, all reinforced impressions of a government ready to trample rules and conventions underfoot.
Dominic Cummings, Special Advisor to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, leaves Downing Street in London. Photo / AP
Things could have been different. Johnson might have tacked back as premier to the socially liberal, One Nation Tory he was as London mayor. He could have levelled with his MPs and the Leave voters whose ranks he helped swell in 2016 about the trade-offs needed to deliver Brexit without causing long-term harm. He might have capitalised on his fresh leadership mandate to hold constructive EU talks, secured tweaks to the withdrawal deal, then used his charisma to woo his party. A smooth EU exit and resulting economic bounce might have blunted the electoral threat from the Brexit party instead of the Tories aping it.
An election, on very different terms, and with the Conservative party shrunken to an English nationalist rump, now looks inevitable. Indeed, the collapse of the government's majority means the UK people must surely now express their will. Serious issues exist, however, around timing. Opposition parties must balance a desire to take on Johnson against the risk of his using a ballot to ensure an EU crash-out during the campaign — or, if he wins, simply repealing this week's bill outlawing no-deal. MPs determined to prevent the worst Brexit have won a notable victory. They must ensure it does not turn out a Pyrrhic one.
