The comedy is over. The clowns have backed off. Boris Johnson raced from his Caribbean beach to revive his political potency, but for once it failed him. Those who knew him best recoiled in horror. He decided in his arrogance that this was “not the right time”. The money markets shuddered and this morning recovered. Britain is a parliamentary democracy, not a mobocracy. The grownups are taking back control.
Now that the former chancellor Rishi Sunak will be the new prime minister, a greater question looms on the horizon. Has he the authority required to decontaminate Liz Truss’s brief essay in public finance? That she could do such damage in just six weeks shows the alarming fragility of a modern government. Sunak’s motto of “integrity, professionalism and accountability” could not be clearer. But stability depends on a brutal new round of spending cuts due on 31 October.
That in turn depends on Sunak’s capacity to discipline his Commons majority, while weakened by his caretaker status, his lack of mandate and with just two years to go until an election. His new cabinet must be “of all the talents” and have one priority. That is not loyalty to him or to Tory election chances but to calming nerves, restoring confidence in the economy and bringing down the cost of living. While the political case for an early election is powerful, instability is the last thing the economy needs. Either way, Sunak’s finest legacy will be not to have played to the electorate.
Britain has spent six months tormenting itself in full worldview. History may now pause its judgment. All democracies make mistakes, not least one currently enjoying Britain’s discomfort, the United States. The test of a democracy is not that it avoids mistakes but that it can correct them. The discrediting of Johnson and the downfall of Truss have taken little more than a year. It took the US four to rid itself of Donald Trump.
History will also note how this fiasco came to pass. There is no question. The narrow outcome of the 2016 Brexit referendum divided the nation, shattered the Tory party and silenced Labour. This fracturing was aggravated by Johnson’s demand for hard Brexit as a ploy to topple Theresa May. His insecurity led to his purging the cabinet of its most experienced and competent ministers. Then, when the parliamentary party tired of him, a whimsical party membership took leave of its senses. It chose Truss.
Most, if not all, Tory MPs have been sceptical throughout this saga: sceptical of Brexit, of Johnson and wholly so of Truss. But they have been hamstrung by the forces of grassroots populism, as expressed in the referendum, two general elections and two leadership elections. Only now has the parliamentary party contrived to reassert itself. British democracy stipulates that the Commons majority and none other should decide who forms a government. The process has been chaotic but it has finally worked. British politics need not be too ashamed of itself.
Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist
Crisis at No 10: How long can the Tory government hold on? Join Hugh Muir, Polly Toynbee, John Crace and Jessica Elgot discussing another failed Tory prime minister and what the future holds for the government, in this livestreamed event. On Wednesday 26 October, 7pm–8pm BST. Book tickets at theguardian.com/guardianlive
