Why the U.K.’s Ruling Party Can’t Rule Itself
Disloyalty isn’t exactly a new development among the Tories but the rise of ideology has broken discipline and organization.
The Palace of Westminster, home to the U.K. Parliament: a rabbit warren with nooks and crannies where conspirators can huddle together or brief the press.
Photographer: Bryn Colton/BloombergThe Conservative Party in the U.K. is in a state of turmoil. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s fate hangs on a report by Sue Gray, a senior civil servant, that is due out any day now. The Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak and the Foreign Secretary Liz Truss are maneuvering for the top job, along with a growing list of rivals. An unknown number of Tory MPs have sent in letters demanding another leadership election. A former Tory MP has jumped ship for the Labour Party, with more to follow, according to many sources. And the Whips Office stands accused of telling one MP that he would lose funding for a local project if he didn’t vote with the government and another that she was being sacked from a government job because of her “Muslimness.”
What on earth is going on? British politics has always been given to treason and plot. The Palace of Westminster — home of the U.K. parliament — is a rabbit warren of a place with endless hidden nooks and crannies (and indeed bars and cafes) where conspirators can huddle together (or brief the press). Anthony Trollope wrote a succession of thick novels about parliamentary shenanigans. Infant politicians at Oxford and Cambridge pride themselves on their ability to knife each other in the back.