A Failed State - June, July, August 2022
It’s strange working overseas and checking the news as it reports on the slow motion collapse of your country.
What did it feel like to be in the UK this summer, as we lurched from monkeypox, to resignations to strikes, to a heat wave, to more strikes, to polio in the water, to sewage on the beaches, to another heat wave, to even more strikes and the ever deepening cost of living crisis. I witnessed a response on my first day back in the UK. In a supermarket, a man loaded a basket with meat products and ran out of the store without paying. Soon we’ll all be running for the exits.
June started with the pomp and circumstance of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. Her disgraced second son Andrew, for years just second in line to the throne, was absent from the celebrations due to the convenient-22 strain of Covid. #AbolishTheMonarchy trended over the bank holiday weekend, as thousands across the country tired of seeing millionaires in their palaces laud it over a population now increasingly fearful for the future.
Johnson soaked up most of the hate, booed as he was on entering St Paul’s cathedral for a thanksgiving service. In a surprise to no one, soon after the celebrations had ended, Sir Graham Brady, Chairman of the 1922 committee of the Conservative Party, announced a vote of confidence in Boris Johnson's leadership of the party. Johnson survived the vote, but more than 40% of his MPs voted against him, with a result of 211 to 148. A victory margin of 1 vote would have been enough for hypocrite Jacob Rees-Mogg.
Johnson however was obviously fatally wounded, with the dire results of the coming by-elections set to deliver the killer blow, so said the mainstream media.
Meanwhile, Scotland's First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, launched the first of a series of papers setting out the case for a second Scottish independence referendum. Another democratic experiment in nationalist populism looks set to occur in a few years, with or without Westminster's blessing.
Back in London, the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers confirmed the rail and tube strikes planned for 21st, 23rd and 25th June would go ahead, after talks to resolve the situation ended without agreement. Thousands of protesters march through London to demand action from the government on the cost of living crisis.
On the 22nd June, the UK Health Security Agency declared a national incident after poliovirus was found in sewage samples collected from the Beckton Sewage Treatment Works, East London. Polio. Back in London. In 2022.
On the 23rd, by-elections took place in Wakefield and Tiverton and Honiton. Labour won in Wakefield, while the Liberal Democrats won in Tiverton and Honiton, overturning a huge Conservative majority. Still Tory MPs refuse to move against Johnson.
On the 29th, the Climate Change Committee published its largest UK climate progress report to date, warning that the UK will fail to achieve net zero by 2050 under current policies. The country is soon to receive its starkest warning yet that Climate Change is with us now and the effects are deadly.
The Fall of Johnson
July starts with a pinch-punch as a formal complaint about Chris Pincher’s conduct is lodged with the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme. A further six allegations against Pincher emerge, involving behaviour over a decade. One complainant is reported to have given 10 Downing Street details in February 2022 and expressed concerns over Pincher becoming a whip in charge of other MPs' welfare.
Johnson described his decision regarding Pincher as a "bad mistake". It is - finally - the last straw and the cabinet resignations begin. Sajid Javid resigns as health secretary, saying he "can no longer, in good conscience, continue serving in this government." Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, also resigns, saying the public expect government to be conducted "properly, competently and seriously."
On the 7th July, Boris Johnson announced his resignation as Conservative Party leader, prompting another Tory leadership election. Yet again a Tory leader and sitting Prime Minister is defenestrated by their party. Lasting a mere 33 days more than his predecessor, Johnson’s fall from office is virtually without parallel. Elected with an 80 seat majority, less than 1100 days previously, Johnson utterly squandered the chance to remake the country
On the 19th July a temperature above 40°C was recorded for the first time in the UK, with a provisional Met Office reading of 40.3°C at Coningsby, Lincolnshire. A major incident is declared in London, with more than 250 firefighters battling grass fires in the east and south of the capital. As a result, the London Fire Brigade had its busiest day since World War Two, with sixteen homes destroyed in Wennington, East London.
Meteorologists and Scientists were dismayed that the extreme heatwaves in Europe are happening quicker than expected, suggesting the climate crisis is worse than feared. Temperature records are usually broken by fractions of a degree, but the 40.2C recorded at Heathrow was 1.5C higher than the previous record of 38.7C recorded in 2019 in Cambridge.
The Conservative leadership contest heated also up with the candidates tearing chunks off one another and the record of their own government. The third televised leadership debate ends up being cancelled. A smart move by the party. The debates only served to expose the exhaustion of the current Tory party. Out of ideas, out of touch, almost out of time.
Drought, Sewage and the Cost of Living Crisis
A hot, dry August saw the introduction of hose pipes bans when a drought was declared in large parts of Central, Southern and Eastern England. Later in the month the Liberal Democrats accuse water companies of failing to properly monitor sewage discharges at beaches, following pollution warnings at more than 40 locations. The public are outraged, as families, forced by their household budgets to holiday within the UK, find that they cannot safely bathe on British beaches.
The link here is water, water management specifically. In 1989 England and Wales became the only countries in the world to have a fully privatised water and sewage disposal system. It has been a disaster for the public and a boon to shareholders and water bosses whose bonuses are up 20% on last year despite most firms missing targets. Who is now benefiting from privatisation was brutally and effectively exposed in a viral video by the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association.
Polling carried out in 2017 indicated that 83% of the British public favoured renationalisation of all water services. In the same year, research by the University of Greenwich suggested that consumers in England were paying £2.3 billion more every year for their water and sewerage bills than they would if the water companies had remained under state ownership.
Nationalisation of crucial British industries enjoys huge support with the public. Few governments - of any stripe - would reverse privatisation. Kier Starmer has backtracked on such pledges. The Greens have added to their manifesto promises. Only Direct Democracy would respect and facilitate the public’s majority wish for re-nationalisation.
Finally, Ofgem announced an 80% rise in the price cap on household energy bills, from £1,971 to £3,549. Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis described the increase as "catastrophic" and warned that people will die without more government help. The placeholder Chancellor, Nadhim Zahawi, acknowledges the seriousness of the situation and insists that "help is coming".
Earlier in the month, the Bank of England raised its base interest rate from 1.25% to 1.75%, the biggest increase in 27 years. The Bank also warned that inflation could reach 13% later in the year and that the British economy may enter a recession.
We have been without a government all summer, at a time of climate change, calamity and approaching crisis. Our collective lack of imagination will lead to yet another unelected administration in our failed system of representative democracy.