British Prime Minister Boris Johnson faces more accountability than Donald Trump does in the United States. Photo / AP
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson faces more accountability than Donald Trump does in the United States. Photo / AP
EDITORIAL:
Some Americans could be forgiven if they looked at Parliament's power struggles in Britain and thought 'well, it's even crazier over there'.
And maybe last week the chaos and division across the pond seemed a lot worse than in Trumpland.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson hit a wall witha series of losing votes on Brexit. Whatever twists lie ahead, the opposition led by Labour's Jeremy Corbyn has initially smashed Johnson's bid to force through Brexit by October 31.
But by the weekend the swampish shortcomings of US politics had also resurfaced.
Politico reported that a US Air Force crew had made a strange stop on a routine flight – to US President Donald Trump's resort in Scotland instead of a UK military base.
The House of Representatives' oversight committee is investigating it and other US military spending in and around Turnberry.
Politico reported: "The incidents raise the possibility that the military has helped keep Trump's Turnberry resort afloat — the property lost US$4.5 million in 2017, but revenue went up US$3m in 2018."
At the G7 summit last month Trump touted his Doral resort in Florida as a venue for the next gathering of world leaders.
And the US Vice-President decided to stay at Trump's Doonbeg resort in Ireland amid questions over Mike Pence's place on the Trump presidential ticket for 2020.
Questions of conflicts of interest have swirled since Trump's election, with the President's frequent use of his own properties for meetings paid for by the US taxpayer and golf.
But other incidents also highlight the unusual wider reach of Trump's personal influence.
Donald Trump and Boris Johnson, left, speak to the media before a working breakfast meeting at the Hotel du Palais on the sidelines of the G-7 summit. Photo / AP
After Trump had claimed for days that Alabama was in the path of Hurricane Dorian, NOAA issued a statement backing the President over its own scientists. Trump's two Republican primary challengers have denounced a move by party officials in Arizona, Kansas, South Carolina and Nevada to cancel 2020 contests. And details have emerged about projects impacted by the US Defence Department's diversion of US$3.6b to help build Trump's border wall.
Republican officialdom keeps aiding Trump in his contortions. The military and government agencies get roped in. An impression of an unmoored, incompetent and questionable administration keeps being drawn.
At least in Britain, 21 Conservative MPs chose to oppose their leader on Brexit. Johnson's own MP brother Jo resigned and yesterday senior minister Amber Rudd quit the Cabinet.
As British political analyst Mehdi Hasan noted on US TV: "Can you imagine 21 House Republicans voting against Donald Trump. Can you imagine Ivanka Trump quitting the White House in disgust."
For now, the alliance of parties against a no-deal Brexit is holding firm against the option of a new election until a new extension is agreed with the EU.
Whether that can be maintained and Labour can present coherent arguments on Brexit in an inevitable campaign are major uncertainties.
A Survation poll showed 48 per cent support for an early election against 31 per cent opposed. By 52 to 31 per cent, respondents preferred a no-deal Brexit to Corbyn becoming prime minister.
A bill requesting a Brexit delay until January unless an EU deal is reached by October 19 has been passed. MPs are preparing legal action should Johnson refuse to seek a delay.
Britain's leader is battling headwinds of accountability that Trump largely avoids.
