How much damage has Boris Johnson done to the UK?

Opinion: Johnson had made buffoonery his own trademark, but his antics have thrown the UK constitution into deep disarray

The UK never ceases to remind the rest of the world that it is the 'cradle of democracy' and its parliamentary system is seen as a model for all aspiring democracies. But the Boris Johnson premiership may have put an irreparable dent on this myth. Events of the last few days have rocked this presumed pinnacle of democratic systems, and the damage to the UK’s international reputation inflicted by Boris Johnson may by irreversible.

There are only three countries in the world to have an uncodified constitution: the UK, New Zealand and Israel. The ‘unwritten’ nature of constitutional practice has always been seen as a major virtue of UK’s democratic practice and has been praised for being dynamic and flexible, a ‘living constitution’. Constitutional theory in the UK still draws inspiration from Walter Bagehot's book The English Constitution, published in 1867, and centuries of tradition. The system has worked well, more or less, until now.

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From RTÉ Radio 1's Today With Claire Byrne, reaction to Boris Johnson's resignation from George Parker, Political Editor for the Financial Times; Ian Byrne, Labour MP for Liverpool and Phillip Blond, former advisor to David Cameron

Johnson’s unscrupulous leadership since becoming prime minister in 2019 has fully exposed the dangers of an unwritten constitution. It shows how a prime minister can take full advantage of the not always transparent and less intelligible workings of the political system for their own personal benefit.

The only reason the UK’s political system has not imploded, until now, is only because of a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ to act properly and honourably. The term ‘gentleman’s agreement’ is appropriate here, since British politics was very much a gentleman’s club until Margaret Thatcher's election in 1979. In many ways, it still actually is.

The entire system works on a basis of trust: the lines of the constitution may be invisible, but politicians know where these lines are and they are expected not to cross them. The British historian Peter Hennessy calls it the 'good chap' theory of government, to capture what he refers to as "the necessary sense of restraint required" to make the UK political system work.

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From RTÉ 1's Six One News, a look back at Boris Johnson's political career

Johnson is not a ‘good chap’. He never was. Expensive education at Eton and Oxford did not instil in him a sense of duty for the common good, fair play, honesty, or decency. Instead, it only magnified his sense of entitlement. In his entire career, as a journalist and Member of Parliament, he has always acted on the assumption that rules never applied to him, only to others. There was no reason to assume that his philosophy of life was going to change once he was elected leader of the Conservative Party in 2019.

Johnson’s disregard for the time-honoured unwritten UK constitution became clear only a few months after he became prime minister, when he discontinued a session of parliament (prorogued) for five weeks at the height of the Brexit crisis, preventing parliament from carrying out its constitutional role. Subsequently the UK’s supreme court ruled that Johnson’s action was unlawful, but these were unchartered constitutional waters, and as a result there were no consequences for Johnson.

After testing the waters and realising what he can get away with, Johnson once again challenged the constitution when he kept the police investigation and the Sue Gray report on the Partygate breaches of lockdown regulations from parliamentary scrutiny.

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From RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland, George Parker from the Financial Times, discusses the publication of the Sue Gray report on Partygate and the impact on Boris Johnson

In the last few days, we have seen yet again Johnson’s utter contempt for conventional constitutional practice. The farcical events of the last 48 hours will remain a shameful blot on UK politics for many generations to come. As scores of people in his government abandoned ship, and senior ministers in his own cabinet told him that the game was up, the nation waited for Johnson to do what all ‘good chaps’ are expected to do in these circumstances and resign. But he didn’t. Instead, he merely agreed to 'step down' on his own terms, holding on to power in the immediate future.

Is Johnson acting within the UK constitution? Does he get to decide if and when to resign? Who knows, because it has never happened before, and it is not clear who has the power to do anything about it. Where there is uncertainly, there is scope for deceit, and Johnson is a master of treachery and duplicity.

Today the UK’s constitution is in disarray, engulfed in a deep crisis from which it may or may not recover. Going back in history, there is another famous example of an unwritten constitution: the Roman Republic. This was an epic attempt to operate a political system on constitutional terms, as an alternative to absolute monarchy. The Roman Republic lasted for many centuries, from 509 to 43 BC.

Boris Johnson's damage to the reputation of the UK, at this moment in time, is unknown and incalculable.

The unwritten nature of the Roman constitution was perhaps one of the reasons for its longevity, its flexibility allowing it to learn and improve as history unfolded. But it was also ultimately its downfall. When Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon and declared himself dictator perpetuo, the constitution did not have an answer. That was the end of the Roman Republic, and the start of dictatorships, but under the more tolerable name of emperors.

In Johnson’s book The Dream of Rome (2006), his (cringingly awful) account of Roman history, he has this to say about Cicero, a brilliant philosopher, politician, and the emblem of the Roman Republic and arch enemy of Julius Caesar: "the trouble with Cicero was that, for all his rhetorical brilliance, he was a second-rate politician...let down by his own vanity and self-importance". This is a remarkable statement coming from Johnson.

The outcoming British prime minister had made buffoonery his own trademark, fuelled by unparalleled vanity and self-importance. But the constitution is not a joke. The law of the land is not a joke. International law is not a joke. Johnson’s damage to the reputation of the UK, at this moment in time, is unknown and incalculable.

The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ