UK Government 'a bonfire of the decencies' under Boris Johnson, says Peter Hennessy

Peter Hennessy, an English historian who specialises in the history of government, said the Prime Minister was the “greatest trouble” to ethics in parliament of any prime minister he has witnessed.

He said at times, Johnson lied “almost daily”, adding that the Tory leader has shown the “frailty” of the UK’s uncodified constitution.

Hennessy said Johnson had disrupted the “good chap theory”, a concept that the British political system relies on the fact that “good chaps of both sexes don't do certain things".

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Speaking about Johnson, Hennessy told The Financial Times: “He is the greatest trouble to the good chap system of any prime minister that I’ve observed.

“Anthony Eden lied to parliament about the collusion with Israel [in the 1956 Suez crisis] but in his defence he felt he had to do that because it was overwhelmingly important for the state.

“But Boris does it, you get the impression in the bad weeks, almost daily.”

He added that this behaviour has led to “a bonfire of the decencies”.

Peter Hennessy said the Prime Minister had shown the frailty of the UK's uncodified constitution

He continued: “If the Prime Minister is the number one wrong ’un, you’re in deep, deep trouble. It’s shown us the fragility of our constitution.”

Hennessy, who has been a crossbench member of the House of Lords since 2010, said he thought the pandemic may have provided a moment for cross-party consensus.

He added, however, that the British response to Covid turned out to be more crisis management.

He said: “I thought really good things might come out of [the pandemic] and they still might, but I’ve come to the conclusion that not with this prime minister.”

He went on: “We haven’t got time to muck about in this country anymore. There are so many deep-set problems.

“They need the best attention and effort of the best of the political and administrative classes all the time, and we’re not getting it.”

Boris Johnson is accused of breaking the code of ethics in government

Hennessey, whose campaign helped make what is now the ministerial code public, said many of the failures following the UK’s five previous prime ministers - John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Theresa May - are down to problems with the political class.

He said post-war politicians “were, for all their faults, broader-gauge people”.

In 1976, the candidates to be Labour leader were “Denis [Healey], Michael Foot, Jim Callaghan, Tony Crosland, Roy Jenkins, and Tony Benn. That field tells you a story about the width of the political class".

The academic suggested that future prime ministers could swear an oath to uphold certain public standards, warning that there comes a point where the UK’s political system cannot go on in its current state.

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Johnson, Hennessey said, viewed the state as “an adventure playground”. He saw issues through what it meant for his own career, the academic claimed.

He said: “The overwhelmingly important prism for [Boris Johnson] is: what does it do for me and my reputation?

“He’s one of those politicians who seem to write their political autobiography as they go along, who have inhaled their own legend before they’ve created it.”

He continued: “The one thing I’m sure is whoever replaces Boris, whatever the circs, he or she will make great play of being anybody but Boris in terms of due process and care and attention. It’ll be good politics for the next prime minister to be anybody but Boris.”