Thread by @Sakura509

"Corruption is a word used nervously in the UK. We’re quite happy applying it to other countries; but in Britain even critics of the status quo can be surprisingly reluctant to describe as corrupt our society’s tight, often concealed circulation of power and rewards."

"Johnson’s response – “I genuinely believe that the UK is not remotely a corrupt country” – has been floridly unconvincing even by his standards."

"Most voters disagree with him. According to YouGov, 80% think there is “a lot” or “a fair amount” of corruption in British politics, and only 1% think there is none . Since the corruption controversy took off, the Tories have dropped in the polls."

"The word corruption sometimes suggests something past its peak and beginning to decay. And despite their efforts to pretend otherwise, the Conservatives have been in office for a long time."

"But more often corruption suggests something spreading, swelling, mutating, becoming monstrous."

"The constant acquisition of power and resources by Johnson’s Tories and their corporate allies has those qualities: from the appointment of cronies to public office to the funnelling of state funds to Tory constituencies ..."

"...to the awarding of government contracts to friends, relations and supporters – a practice for which the Omicron variant may open up more opportunities."

Round #2 of the Tory "VIP Lane" - aka fast track to self-enrichment - no experience or credibility required!!

"Appropriately for an administration that shows contempt for parliamentary democracy, the British ruling culture that Johnson’s increasingly resembles is a pre-democratic one: the once-infamous 👉Old Corruption👈 of the 18th and 19th centuries."

"Government jobs were routinely sold and public money was distributed to people with political leverage."

"As the state grew, expanded by wars rather than a pandemic, new functions were carried out by private companies whose ability to win contracts and extract profits far exceeded their operational effectiveness. The prime minister sat contentedly at the centre of this system."

"A satirical cartoon from 1740 shows Robert Walpole – an Old Etonian like Johnson, who governed for more than 20 years – as a giant figure “stretched over ye Doors of all ye Publick Offices”, waiting for supplicants to kiss his exposed buttocks."

Loyalty above competence!!!

"In the image, one would-be official rolls through Walpole’s legs a hoop which has the words ‘Corruption’, ‘Venality’, ‘Prostitution’, ‘Dependance’, ‘Wealth’, etched on it."

Perhaps #LiarJohnson has unilaterally rewritten the "Nolan Principles"!

historyandpolicy.org/policy-papers/…

"Johnson is like an 18th-century politician, with his shamelessness, elaborate but untrustworthy rhetoric, and enrichment of favourites. And, like his style of government, at first Old Corruption seemed immune to criticism."

"It took a century of campaigning by radicals such as the journalist and MP William Cobbett for the system to start being dismantled."

"The Johnson government’s corruption stems as much from modern Conservatism’s emptiness as its over-confidence."

theguardian.com/commentisfree/…