They laughed when he sat down to play. Then Boris Johnson made Brexit look easy. Which did not just confound conventional wisdom. It struck an important blow for self-government.
Johnson is an odd character and this newspaper deplores his government allowing Huawei into Britain’s 5G network. But it is not too strong to say that those who sought to sabotage Brexit, including semi-closet Remainers like Theresa May, had put British democracy at risk.
By the end of her administration, the British system of government was on the verge of disintegration. Because nobody had the confidence of Parliament or could gain it, there quite literally was neither ministry nor legislature. Yet May remained ostensibly prime minister without powers, mandate or purpose while MPs remained ostensibly legislators though they could not legislate. It was constitutionally essential that Johnson secure dissolution of this Parliament caroming rudderlessly about.
That his party then won a decisive victory and used it decisively was also crucial because behind this embarrassing crisis was a deeper one. Whether the referendum ever should have been called, and however fatuous David Cameron’s cunning plan to derail Brexit thereby, the British people actually were consulted on the most fundamental question they had faced since Margaret Thatcher’s reforms and probably since the Second World War. And they voted to leave.
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See Also:
(1) Brexit: A Realm, If They Can Keep It
(2) Sweden: Hijab is ‘Look of the Year’
(3) We will not surrender! Boris warns EU there will be NO COMPROMISE in Brexit trade talks
(4) Boris Johnson ‘furious’ with EU as Brussels turns on UK over trade agreement
(5) Brussels on alert as Italian MEP backs Brexit and savages Barnier in stunning EU speech
