Boris Johnson Leaves Behind a Bigger, Bloated State
As the Johnson premiership goes down in flames, perhaps the Conservative Party will finally rediscover its commitment to liberty.
After a truly surreal 36 hours, British politics has some clarity: The prime minister, Boris Johnson, will resign, thus triggering the third Conservative leadership contest in six years. His successor (due to be picked from a field of hopeful Tory parliamentarians which could easily stretch to a dozen people) is expected to take office this autumn. The race begins now.
For British libertarians, the end of the Johnson premiership is a bittersweet moment. For all his association with liberty-crushing lockdowns, many of us still remember when Johnson was a darling of the freedom-loving right. He used to be the politician who made his career rallying against the excesses of the nanny state while thumbing his nose at bores and bureaucrats alike.
It was this penchant for freedom and optimism that made Johnson such an effective campaigner for Brexit. Unlike the nativist grievance peddling from the likes of Nigel Farage, Johnson painted Brexit as a chance to build a more outward-looking and ambitious Britain. All we had to do first was "take back control"—and end the supremacy of European Union regulation. It was a theme that went on to power both his leadership and general election campaign of 2019.
But shortly after the newly-crowned prime minister broke the political deadlock around Brexit, there came a new crisis: COVID-19. At first, Johnson's much-heralded libertarian instincts held up nicely. In one of his early press conferences about the pandemic (in which he encouraged a nervous public to minimize social contact and keep physical distance), Johnson laughed off a question about calling in the police to enforce common sense. Within weeks, he had been persuaded by his advisers to order a full lockdown.
It was this heavy-handed approach that would go on to shape 18 months of British politics, as the country veered from punitive lockdowns (at one point opting for the most stringent measures in Europe) to equally invasive lockdown-lite measures like the "rule of six." As backbench libertarian members of Parliament raged, Johnson's acolytes sought to assure the public that these measures flew in the face of his political instincts—and would disappear as soon as possible. But many of us weren't convinced.
The truth is that, even as the pandemic faded, Johnson's newfound "big state" instincts did not. One of the first warning signs was when, after Johnson had been hospitalized with COVID-19, he announced an expansive anti-obesity agenda—promising to ban multibuy deals on unhealthy food; end television advertising of sweets and crisps; and even make calorie counts compulsory on all restaurant menus (a move that would have placed a disproportionate burden on small businesses).
Downing Street didn't just come after our diets. One of the government's flagship legislative proposals was the much-criticized Online Safety Bill: a sprawling manifesto on internet regulation that would see web hosts fined vast sums for failing to remove "legal but harmful" content (the exact meaning of which would be subject to the judgment of government ministers). Free speech advocates saw it for what it was: a censor's charter.
His supposed libertarianism didn't add up to much when it came to taxation and spending, either. Having used his leadership campaign to define himself against the austerity measures of previous Tory governments, Johnson spent his time on Downing Street going even further—driving up state spending in pursuit of lofty policy goals (including using taxpayer cash to protect the assets of millionaire pensioners by introducing a socialized cap on privately-provided elder care).
Under big-spending Boris, tax levels reached the highest level since WWII. A sneaky decision not to inflation-proof tax thresholds meant that 2 million people just got pushed into a higher tax bracket, even though their real-terms earnings have not necessarily increased. Businesses didn't fare much better either—just look at the recent decision to levy a short-notice "windfall tax" on the increased profits of energy firms (which comes on top of the planned hike in corporation tax).
Inevitably, this profligate attitude was going to bring trouble for a maverick like Johnson. And so it did last month when a mooted plan to ignore World Trade Organization rules in order to unfairly subsidize British steel (a move designed to appeal to Johnson's protectionist "Red Wall" voters) led to the resignation of Christopher Geidt, the prime minister's ethics adviser. Although, of course, none of those scandals came close to Partygate—the lockdown-breaking spree that hastened Johnson's downfall.
For all his promise, the truth is that Johnson—the supposed savior of the Tory right—will end up leaving behind a Britain considerably less free than the one he inherited. Many will continue to praise him for delivering Brexit, but this misses the point. While the U.K. may be out of the E.U. legal orbit, we've done almost nothing to take advantage of it, retaining the vast majority of the regulations that Johnson used to rail against so persuasively.
If there's one positive, it's that—as the Johnson premiership goes down in flames—perhaps the Conservative Party will finally rediscover its commitment to liberty. There are already signs that at least one serious candidate (the current foreign secretary, Liz Truss) plans to run on a more libertarian-oriented platform in the upcoming contest. Others are likely to follow in the coming weeks.
If Conservative voters have paid attention during the Johnson premiership—rather than remaining blinded by party or Brexit loyalty—they will have observed the folly of "big state" conservatism. Let's hope this summer they vote in a way that reflects that.
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Keep going east and you’ll find something really worthwhile to cover.
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To brighten your day
https://twitter.com/Ukraine66251776/status/1544915098774503425?t=mdU08sn_DX3wGf6HtwDIFQ&s=19
[Video]
Oh, and just to clarify: that’s a video from the Netherlands.
Not entirely sure why, but I just can’t stop laughing when I watch it.
Ha!
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German farmers also rise up. Dutch, Italian, Polish and German, this is growing into a global movement. https://t.co/R4XNMoeJUf
This could get very interesting. Once in awhile Europeans get to rioting en masse and really fuck shit up.
You know what European fucked things up?
Caligula?
Angela Merkel?
Martin Luther?
Charlemagne?
Karl Marx.
You win the internet.
Col. Parker?
Gracchus Babeuf?
Two words Brits: Nigel Farage.
Now is the time..Nigel for PM (I know it doesnt work that way there). Ok how about Seb Coe (moderate type)? Opps not a MP…ok who is left?
Oh come now Mr. Jackman. There are only 2 issues that matter to real libertarians:
1. Did he pwn the left?
2. Did he support COVID lockdowns?
On 1 he earns a +1 for Brexit. On 2 he earns a -1 for lockdowns.
Seems to me, that’s a neutral score!
“Did he pwn the left?”
But you get pwnd every day, Jeffy, by absolutely everyone. One doesn’t have to be PM to do it.
The only thing that matters to true libertarians is if he was a Republican or not. He wasn’t a Republican, so he can get fucked.
Caught that podcast you linked yesterday. Neat stuff.
It is the one two punch of the resident retards. Guaranteed to knock any strawman down.
Although sometimes the strawman ends up staring at their stupidity as well.
Poor Sarc. It’s the booze you know.
He ain’t a conservative.
Youre getting worse. Did you run out of food stamps?
Seek help.
Anybody who thought that Brexit meant a shift toward a reduced state is just huffing Remoaner propaganda.
The Tories got to their majority by convincing voters that they, not Labour, would better manage the NHS. And no one should pretend that it’s going away. If Thatcher couldn’t kill it, no one can.
The NHS was a minor consideration. The main reason the Tories won is because the “Labour” party got snotty with the actual working class for not wanting to be ruled by a foreign politburo and rubber-stamp Supreme Euro-Soviet.
A couple of generations ago, it pretended to represent the working class, and in the meantime it got infested with commie pseudo-intellectuals and blatant Quislings like Corbyn.
-jcr
What a failure that floppy fuck was. He talked a good game but did nothing to destroy the wiggly, parasite-riddled corpse of Whitehall.
He wanted power for its own sake, just like all his other WEF-trained friends fucking up their counties.
I guess it shouldn’t be surprising that BJ, at the end of the day, truly sucked.
Through poor handling BJ hardened his position, and prematurely ended up in a sticky situation.
Yeah, he really blew.
He didn’t even want power so much as publicity.
-jcr
Britain’s loss is The Spectator‘s gain.
If he tires of being its Editor once again, Bill Koch should make him an offer he won’t refuse to edit Reason.
Failing which, he’d make a mighty literate Harvard president. While the last three ran the franchise into the ground with a deadly combination of Classical illiteracy and terminal Woke, raised the tone at Number 10 by commissioning Pindaric ode to open the London Olympiad
“Unlike the nativist grievance peddling from the likes of Nigel Farage”
Has it ever occurred to you, Robert, that the British natives may have a huge amount of legitimate grievances to peddle? Ones that aren’t being addressed by the globohomo Eloi who sit on Whitehall’s thrones?
No?
Not even once, huh?
Britain has fallen. Not a chance in hell of a resurgence of real conservatism there.
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No more than the US anyway. People who are ruled by the Biden administration and who have Democratic Party majorities in both houses, shouldn’t cast shade on the Brits.
In the US we can at least hope for a military coup.
Let’s hope this summer they vote in a way that reflects that.
I see we’re adopting Joe Biden’s strategy for getting things done – hoping.
Or we could Tweet “Do it now.”
Liz Truss was a Remainer. She won’t win.
“Don’t tempt me Frodo! I dare not take it. Not even to keep it safe. Understand Frodo, I would use this Ring from a desire to do good. But through me, it would wield a power too great and terrible to imagine.”
Yeah, but I wouldn’t put BJ anywhere near the level of the Grey Pilgrim.
That’s the point. Gandalf had the self awareness to understand that the Ring would corrupt him. Most do not.
at least one serious candidate (the current foreign secretary, Liz Truss) plans to run on a more libertarian-oriented platform
Can a Truss support Libertarian principles?
/Engineer Humor
“plans to run on a more libertarian-oriented platform” Anyone can run on a more libertarian-oriented platform. It’s what you do once you get elected.
S M D H.
Anyone else notice how unhinged the leftists here have gotten? Sarc, jeff, Mike, shrike, etc?
It’s a steady decline, and has been for years.
Leftism is psychotic. Literally.
The more at odds with reality their perception is, the more distressing it is. It’s a flawed system of cause and effect, thus expectations are continually rebuffed by what actually happens.
This either leads to nervous breakdown – in which the cause-effect paradigm is shattered, hopefully to be rebuilt more accurately afterward – or, when survival is not threatened by the inaccurate worldview (thus full breakdown isn’t triggered), the person keeps descending into frantic shrillness and progressive neurosis.
Our society insulates these inaccurate paradigms and keeps the organism alive, with few threats to survival, but distressed.
I listen increasingly to British political analysis because I find it more interesting than American analysis which tends to only be capable of reading 140 characters at a time.
Anyhoo, nothing will really change in Britain because Johnson didn’t resign over his policies, he resigned over scandals. Most of the people waiting in the wings to take over support everything Johnson supported. Lockdowns? Check. Ukraine/anti-Putin panic? Check. Green bullshit? Check.
Holy fucking shit.
Right?
It’s not happening.
Ok, w…well, it’s happening but it’s not as bad as you say.
Ok, it’s as bad as you say, but it’s a good thing!
Journolisming:
Officers using environmentally friendly vehicles in rural areas are also struggling to locate charging points, raising questions about their effectiveness.
I wonder how much journlisming was done BEFORE they went green and asked the kinds of questions normies in comment sections were asking before this whole thing went into action.
Are the flashing lights LED’s, or are they still using incandescents? I ask because I was once part of a design team for ambulance lighting control boards, and it would have made a huge difference if we could have counted on all the lights being converted to LED’s – such as wiring for 10 to 20A rather than 100 – 200A. I don’t know how much power a siren draws, but I can’t see how LED lamps would draw enough from a battery big enough to run a car at high speeds for a sufficient distance.
OTOH, a high speed run itself requires much more energy per mile than normal speeds, so even without the lights and siren a car responding to an emergency is going to have an “unexpectedly” short range. (“Unexpectedly” only to idealogues and others with their heads so far up their rectums as to never check the specifications and think about what police cars and other emergency response vehicles do.)
Really didn’t follow Brit politics, but if the author isn’t shoveling shit, Mr. Johnson looks like he deserves stage door left.
Getting spicy…
https://twitter.com/nick_kapur/status/1545242469310537728?t=0K3ls8HJmFqNw9Hj9FaGGA&s=19
BREAKING: Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe was shot in the chest with a gun during a speech and collapsed. He was rushed to a hospital and it is unclear if he is still alive.
Police are saying he was shot from behind with a shotgun, as per the chyron on this television news report:
This seems to be a still image of the attacker, a middle aged man, aiming his shotgun at Abe, who is now in custody.
Two shots were fired. The first seemed to miss. The man did not flee; he just squatted down and waited to be arrested, as per NHK.
Here are stills of the attacker being apprehended.
Apparently Abe was initially responsive in the ambulance but then became unresponsive. Japanese news sources are reporting that is heart has stopped (心肺停止), and that he has now been taken by helicopter to a fancier hospital where they are attempting to revive him.
Aerial footage shows police dragging the attacker away while a group of bystanders huddles over Abe
Image from social media appears to show Abe lying on the ground, with blood visible on his clothing.
It’s hard to explain how shocking this is for Japan, where guns are extremely rare.
The arrested attacker is named Yamagami Tetsuya, in his 40s, and a local resident of Nara prefecture, where the attack occurred, as per NHK.
Image of the strange-looking firearm used by the attacker.
In general it is extremely difficult to get access to guns in Japan, and this looks like it is possibly even home-made.
[Pics]
Obviously Japan needs stricter gun laws.
Here comes the ghost gun panic.
Anything to try and take our minds off of the hurt most of us are in right now because of our purposefully destroyed economy.
He’s gone. Shot in the heart, apparently.
No, that was Abe.
“Boris Johnson Leaves Behind a Bigger, Bloated State”
Mission accomplished?