Since the triumph of the so-called “Glorious Revolution of 1688”, which definitively consolidated its parliamentary system, the United Kingdom was never prone to falling into the clutches of demagogues. The political leaders of Albion have perhaps been perfidious, but little prone to megalomaniac delusions. Any excess in this sense has been punished at the polls, like Margaret Thatcher’s folly to impose a poll tax in the late eighties. Perhaps the reason for this lies in the English character, hardened with a fine irony, a legendary pragmatism, a delicious eccentricity and a single wise conviction: “Life is not to be taken too seriously.”
During the 20th century, the United Kingdom was kept out of ideological confrontations, utopian dreams and devastating fanaticism. Arthur Koestler defined the British as a people by nature “suspicious of all causes, disdainful of all systems, bored by ideologies, skeptical of utopias.” However, apparently all of that is over. The folly of Brexit shattered the legend of British common sense.
The English electorate simply indulged in the fallacies, prosopopoeias and unscrupulousness of unpresentable demagogues such as Nigel Farage and of various leaders of the Conservative Party known for their excess of self-centeredness. Chief among them is the charismatic former Mayor of London and current Prime Minister, Boris Johnson. Not everything is despicable in his public career and in his personality: he is an intellectually brilliant individual, a writer of merit, a controversial columnist, possessing a magnificent sense of humor, capable of citing Milton, Shakespeare and the Greek tragedians. It is strange so much intellectual solidity in the pedestrian populist leaders – yes, I think, for example (among others), in El Peje. But Boris is also an eccentric and buffoonish megalomaniac. As one of the main exponents of the Brexit he ran a campaign full of lies and tacky nationalism.
This week the Conservative Party held its congress in Manchester. He did it with the country upset: consumers and companies are beginning to feel the negative effects of the Brexit, the National Health Service is going through one of its worst crises, prices are on the rise, gasoline stations were inoperative for several days due to a shortage of drivers to transport fuel and supermarket shelves are almost empty. However, almost two years after his resounding victory in the general elections and despite his manifest inefficiency and apayasada personality, Boris Johnson is comfortably in the lead in all electoral polls.
Far from any self-criticism or reflective mood, the Prime Minister’s tone in Manchester was triumphant: he rejected calls from industry to open the doors to more foreign workers, said he was ready to make “bold decisions” in the impending task of rebuilding the economy. after the pandemic was over and became even more entrenched in its defense of Brexit calling it “a great moment of national liberation, thanks to which we overcome the nightmare of our submission to the European Union (EU).”
The Conservative Party and its leader preferred to remain stuck in their bubble of alternative truthsBut the reality is that a shortage of truck drivers was behind the fuel supply problems. Thousands of Europeans who used to work in the transport industry and also in other sectors such as agriculture, food processing, hospitality and many public services have returned to the continent, leaving large gaps in the labor market. The problems now facing British exporters are the direct result of the new bureaucracy resulting from the “Brexit tough ”negotiated by Johnson, which pulled Britain out of the single market and the European customs union. Trade with EU nations has plummeted since the new rules came into force, figures that show no recovery after the end of lockdown by the pandemic. The respective agreements with Northern Ireland are also in suspense. But for Johnson this is just a “period of adjustment” although, yes, he warned that current problems in supply chains and food and fuel shortages could continue until Christmas. A very Shakespearean “winter of discontent” awaits the UK.
And before all this disaster, the popularity of Boris, unscathed! So it is with many populists here and there: no matter how badly they govern, they remain at the peak of popularity. All have assimilated the fatal lesson learned in the campaign of the Brexit: There is no longer punishment at the polls for politicians who blatantly lie and blatantly break the rules.
Today’s populists do not worry about being caught breaking laws, breaking institutions, systematically disregarding the truth, or cheating. The only essential thing to win elections and consolidate in power is knowing how to handle a divisive discourse of easy rhetoric, irreverent to political correctness, designed to blame identified enemies, dark forces, outside influences, and immigrants for national problems.
–
