With Boris Johnson gone, the question for Europe is whether now with the primary source of the poison infecting EU-UK relations since 2016 gone, the relationship between London and Brussels will improve, writes Benjamin Fox.
Benjamin Fox is EURACTIV’s Politics Editor.
As became typical of his time in office, Boris Johnson did not bow out with much dignity. There was no hint of an apology for the innumerable scandals and repeated lies that have occurred during his near three-year premiership in his valedictory resignation statement on Thursday (7 July).
Instead, his Conservative colleagues were ‘eccentric’ for kicking him out and had fallen victim to the instinct of the ‘Westminster herd’. For Johnson, it has always been someone else’s fault.
His ousting was entirely self-inflicted and completely predictable. His personality, not policy, was always going to bring him down.
The final straw, after Partygate and countless other scandals, was Johnson’s response to Chris Pincher, the government’s deputy chief whip, who resigned last week after allegedly sexually assaulting two men. Pincher had been accused of similar behaviour when serving as a junior minister under Johnson in the Foreign Office several years ago.
Johnson initially insisted that he had no knowledge of a previous complaint against Pincher, only to later backtrack, claiming that he had forgotten being informed about the case. Within two days, more than 50 of his ministers had resigned and a group of senior cabinet ministers urged him to go.
The paradox of Johnson was that two and a half years after winning an 80-seat majority and the Conservative party’s highest share of the vote since 1979, he had become toxically unpopular. An opinion poll earlier this week indicated that 69% of Britons wanted him to quit.
That still made him far more liked at home than abroad. “Europe says goodbye to Boris Johnson without tears or sorrow,” reported Spanish daily El Mundo this morning, describing him as an “unscrupulous leader” who “has left not a single friend or admirer.”
“The premier has done nothing but accumulate firewood and light matches,” it added. “A serial traitor, a hardened liar” was the verdict of Italy’s Corriere della Serra.
While the Conservative party wrestles with what to do next and the UK media writes Johnson’s political obituary, the question for Europe is whether now with the primary source of the poison infecting EU-UK relations since 2016 gone, the relationship between London and Brussels will improve.
It is impossible to predict with any confidence who will replace Johnson. There are at least six viable candidates, including former Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, the two most high-profile ministers, as well as Conservative party favourite, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace.
While many Brexiteers still cling to the belief that there is still a ‘Remainer’ plot to take the UK back into the EU, the reality is that neither the Labour nor pro-European Liberal Democrats plan to campaign for EU membership, or even single market membership any time soon. In that sense, Johnson did ‘Get Brexit Done’.
Much depends on whether Johnson gets his wish to stay on as caretaker prime minister while the Conservative party elects a new leader, a process that normally takes several months.
The bill to override the Northern Ireland protocol, which prompted the European Commission to open legal proceedings against the UK, was set to go through the House of Commons in the next couple of weeks.
Should Johnson stay, he will almost certainly want the bill to get through as part of his Brexit legacy. However, a hefty number of Conservative MPs want him to go immediately, and political paralysis could well result in the bill, like many others, being put on hold until there is a new Prime Minister.
With Johnson gone, his successor would lose nothing by focusing on improved relations with the UK’s main trading and political ally.
Logically, that could start with negotiating an agreement on the implementation of the Northern Ireland protocol, where the differences between the two sides are actually far smaller than publicly advertised. That, in turn, could finally unblock the UK’s participation in the Horizon Europe programme.
After years of turmoil and toxicity, the truth is that most Britons want some normality – and that applies to EU relations too.
Source: euractiv.com
