• Latest
  • Trending
  • All
  • News
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Science
  • World
  • Lifestyle
  • Tech
Britain is sick of political scandal. Can Labour’s leader make change?

Britain is sick of political scandal. Can Labour’s leader make change?

June 1, 2022
Senate Education Discusses Financial Literacy, Free Period Products

Senate Education Discusses Financial Literacy, Free Period Products

February 2, 2023
Post-Global War on Terror, different missions for the National Guard

Post-Global War on Terror, different missions for the National Guard

February 2, 2023
USWNT World Cup roster prediction 4.0: How SheBelieves Cup could impact selections

USWNT World Cup roster prediction 4.0: How SheBelieves Cup could impact selections

February 2, 2023
ChildCare Education Institute launches CUR137: Completing

ChildCare Education Institute launches CUR137: Completing

February 2, 2023
Gaps in Mental Health Care for Asian and Pacific Islander People and Other People of Color

Gaps in Mental Health Care for Asian and Pacific Islander People and Other People of Color

February 2, 2023
Jean-Pierre calls Texas border czar a ‘political stunt,’ claims Biden’s actions ‘made a difference’

Jean-Pierre calls Texas border czar a ‘political stunt,’ claims Biden’s actions ‘made a difference’

February 2, 2023
House Ousts Ilhan Omar From Foreign Affairs Panel

House Ousts Ilhan Omar From Foreign Affairs Panel

February 2, 2023
National Wear Red Day declared for Friday, aims to bring awareness and fight heart disease

National Wear Red Day declared for Friday, aims to bring awareness and fight heart disease

February 2, 2023
New Report Looks at Arkansas Policies To Promote Infant, Toddler Health

New Report Looks at Arkansas Policies To Promote Infant, Toddler Health

February 2, 2023
Kyle Rittenhouse: Victim’s father’s wrongful-death lawsuit can proceed

Kyle Rittenhouse: Victim’s father’s wrongful-death lawsuit can proceed

February 2, 2023
Trump Won’t Commit to Backing the G.O.P. Nominee in 2024

Trump Won’t Commit to Backing the G.O.P. Nominee in 2024

February 2, 2023
Riviera Beach classroom gets ‘STEM’ makeover thanks to FPL grant

Riviera Beach classroom gets ‘STEM’ makeover thanks to FPL grant

February 2, 2023
Saturday, February 4, 2023
News Today
  • Home
  • World
  • Politics
  • Health
  • Education
  • National
  • News
No Result
View All Result
News Today
No Result
View All Result
Home Politics

Britain is sick of political scandal. Can Labour’s leader make change?

by newstoday
June 1, 2022
in Politics
0
Britain is sick of political scandal. Can Labour’s leader make change?
493
SHARES
1.4k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter


British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is once again facing calls to resign, including from members of his own party, as the latest revelations around the Partygate lockdown violation scandal come to light. At the same time, his rival in the Labour Party, party leader Sir Keir Starmer, is also facing a reckoning over a possible violation of the lockdown rules.

But where Mr. Johnson has fought tooth and nail to avoid any political consequences for his violations, Mr. Starmer is facing the issue head-on: He promised to resign as Labour leader if fined by police.

Why We Wrote This

As Britain’s government is shaken by the Partygate scandal, the opposition leader has vowed to step down if he is found to have violated lockdown laws – putting integrity above political survival.

Mr. Starmer’s response to the legal peril he is in is not simply a political gamble, experts say. Though Mr. Starmer’s promise to abide by his morals does paint a stark contrast with Mr. Johnson’s cagier responses to Partygate, they say that Mr. Starmer is also making a bigger claim about how politics can be conducted today.

“Voters are disgusted and suspicious of politics,” says Eunice Goes, professor of politics. Their doubts have paved the way for the Labour leader “to make the case for competence, clean politics free of corruption, and of strengthening institutions.”

London

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Conservative Party can’t seem to escape the Partygate scandal.

After months of lying dormant, the controversy over parties held by Mr. Johnson’s government, in violation of its own COVID-19 lockdown rules, roared back on to the public stage last week with the publication of a new report and previously unseen photos of the prime minister at an office party where drinking was going on. Mr. Johnson has offered increasingly strained defenses for his behavior, and now risks being ousted by his own party due to his appearing to have lied to Parliament.

At the same time, his rival in the Labour Party, party leader Sir Keir Starmer, is also facing a reckoning over a possible violation of the lockdown rules. But where Mr. Johnson has fought tooth and nail to avoid any political consequences for lockdown violations, Mr. Starmer is facing the issue head-on: He promised to resign as Labour leader if fined by police.

Why We Wrote This

As Britain’s government is shaken by the Partygate scandal, the opposition leader has vowed to step down if he is found to have violated lockdown laws – putting integrity above political survival.

The response by Mr. Starmer, a former top government prosecutor, to the legal peril he is in is not simply a political gamble, experts say. Though Mr. Starmer’s promise to abide by his morals does paint a stark contrast with Mr. Johnson’s cagier responses to Partygate, they say that Mr. Starmer is also making a bigger claim about how politics can be conducted today.

“Voters are disgusted and suspicious of politics,” says Eunice Goes, professor of politics at Richmond, The American International University in London, citing recent allegations of sexual abuse, bullying, and misogyny from Tory members of Parliament. Their doubts have paved the way for the Labour leader “to make the case for competence, clean politics free of corruption, and of strengthening institutions.”

The highest standards

Mr. Starmer’s political peril stems from an incident on April 30 last year, over a year into Britain’s COVID-19 lockdown measures banning indoor gatherings, when he and a group of political aides sat down with a takeaway curry in Durham, northeast England.

On the back of a complaint filed by Durham’s Conservative MP, local police are investigating a possible breach of the law. The Labour leader insists what took place was legal; a rounding up of colleagues after a day of local campaigning.

But Mr. Starmer raised the stakes by declaring that he “would, of course, do the right thing” and resign if fined for wrongdoing. That is meant to highlight the difference between himself and Mr. Johnson, who has refused calls to resign after being fined when officials, including Chancellor Rishi Sunak, gathered indoors to sing “Happy Birthday” to the prime minister despite strict lockdown rules. The Partygate-rooted offense earned Mr. Johnson the distinction of being the first prime minister to be sanctioned for breaking the law while in office.

A police officer talks to a man protesting against British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in front of the entrance to Downing Street in London, April 13, 2022. New pressure continues to mount against Mr. Johnson as more information comes out about parties that took place in No. 10 during lockdowns.

“This matters … because the British public deserves politicians who believe the rules apply to them,” said Mr. Starmer, pointing the finger clearly at the prime minister’s behavior. “They deserve politicians who hold themselves to the highest standards. … They will always get that from me.”

The Labour leader’s decision looks to be in keeping with his background as a lawyer and Britain’s director of public prosecutions, one of the country’s top prosecutorial jobs. In that role, Mr. Starmer introduced measures to prosecute female genital mutilation, reformed guidelines over how police should handle sexual abuse investigations, and defended the Human Rights Act when the Conservative Party proposed repealing the legislation.

He has featured that sense of justice in politics, presenting himself as a steady pair of hands ready to take on the mantle of prime minister. “His whole message is about reassurance, that he’s not the former, radically far-left Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, or Boris Johnson,” says Dr. Goes.

Mr. Starmer’s image is the antithesis of Mr. Johnson’s bombastic style, priding himself on “professionalism and competency,” says Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London.

A real opportunity for change?

Whether that will matter to the public is not clear. The pandemic appeared to change the rules for what’s acceptable behavior from British government officials, and Mr. Johnson has been able to maintain his tenure as prime minister.

Cynicism pervades, “a lot of it generated by this government,” says Dr. Bale. “It seems everybody has been tarred by the same brush.”

That’s not simply a result of Mr. Johnson’s doings, but a long-term trend of mistrust stretching back to the expenses scandal over a decade ago, which saw almost daily revelations of members of Parliament using public money on anything from second homes to houses for ducks. Trust in politicians hasn’t recovered much since then.

And while Mr. Starmer prosecuted some of the MPs in the expenses scandal – including members of his own party – that doesn’t mean the public sees him as a solution to today’s dirty politics. “They’re not really inspired by him. Though they’re fed up with Boris Johnson, they don’t think Starmer is the alternative,” says Dr. Bale.

Still, Mr. Johnson has opened a door for Mr. Starmer’s appeal to voters’ sense of right vs. wrong via the prime minister’s plan to seize control of a parliamentary anti-corruption watchdog, allegations of party donors paying for the refurbishment of the prime minister’s residence, and other scandals.

“Do voters still value honor and integrity?” asked The Guardian’s political commentator Andrew Rawnsley. “Sir Keir Starmer is staking his career on it.”

Though even if he loses his career, Mr. Starmer might still “ironically” reset British politics by resigning. “One person is seen as having the guts and decency to fall on their sword if they’re caught out,” says Dr. Bale. Establishing Labour as a clean-cut brand could get a lot of voters to look at the party again.

The worst outcome for Mr. Starmer, Dr. Bale adds, may actually be a middle ground, where the police judge that the Labour leader acted unlawfully but decide not to fine him. In that case, Mr. Starmer could keep his job on a “legal” technicality.

That could seem like more of the same self-interested politics, says Dr. Bale. “If he hangs on, he’ll look like any other politician as far as the public is concerned.”



Source link

Share197Tweet123Share49
newstoday

newstoday

  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
Stay away from S.F. national parks, police union says. Here’s what’s behind the warning

Stay away from S.F. national parks, police union says. Here’s what’s behind the warning

May 25, 2022
Gallaudet University Track Star Becomes School’s First National Champ – NBC4 Washington

Cornyn likens overrule of Roe v. Wade to Brown v. Board of Education in tweet

June 26, 2022
John Cornyn tweet about Brown v. Board of Education goes viral

John Cornyn tweet about Brown v. Board of Education goes viral

June 25, 2022
African diplomats protest alleged begins racism and inhumane clinical treat

Coronavirus: France deaths at city 14,400 ahead Macron lockdown

0
Police investigating fatal shooting in southeast

Police investigating fatal shooting in southeast

0
African diplomats protest alleged begins racism and inhumane clinical treat

Prince Harry drops royal surname after moving

0
Senate Education Discusses Financial Literacy, Free Period Products

Senate Education Discusses Financial Literacy, Free Period Products

February 2, 2023
Post-Global War on Terror, different missions for the National Guard

Post-Global War on Terror, different missions for the National Guard

February 2, 2023
USWNT World Cup roster prediction 4.0: How SheBelieves Cup could impact selections

USWNT World Cup roster prediction 4.0: How SheBelieves Cup could impact selections

February 2, 2023
News Today

Copyright © 2022 NewsToday.

Navigate Site

  • Home
  • About us
  • Contact us
  • DMCA
  • Privacy Policy

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • Politics
    • Business
    • World
    • Science
  • Entertainment
    • Gaming
    • Music
    • Movie
    • Sports
  • Tech
    • Apps
    • Gear
    • Mobile
    • Startup
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Fashion
    • Health
    • Travel

Copyright © 2022 NewsToday.