If only Boris Johnson were in a position to do something about the European Court of Human Rights, he would not need to call a referendum on it now. But while he was prime minister he preferred to grumble about it and hinted that he might consider withdrawing from the Convention or the Court that enforces it.
As well as advertising the weakness of his government, his support for a new referendum on “Europe” seems like a calculated idea to cause as much damage as possible to the Conservative Party.
We shouldn’t give him the oxygen of publicity. In fact, broadcasters have to have an actor say their lines. At least the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg and Sky News’ Beth Rigby refused to interview him. Undoubtedly in Kuenssberg’s case it was because he accidentally WhatsApped her draft questions for the production team. In Rigby’s case, it was because Johnson refused to allow a public interview to be recorded at a literary festival. A very strange kind of self-censorship.
But as a former prime minister, there is interest in his views. He is also highly respected by some members of the Conservative Party, including Nadine Dorries, who continues to claim that he was ousted by a conspiracy rather than his own poor decisions, with complete disregard for the facts.
Even so, some may be blindsided by the realization that it was Johnson who chose to use the UK’s Brexit freedom to relax the rules and triple net migration.
So let’s consider his plan on its merits. The European Court of Human Rights is a flawed institution. Sensitive centrist prime ministers, including Tony Blair and David Cameron, found this frustrating. This was partly because it was doing its job, which was to protect the rights of unpopular minorities, including criminals and terrorists, and which was bound to make life difficult for governments. But this was partly because interpretations of human rights, such as the right to family life, had become too broad.
The court blocked a flight to Rwanda in June 2022, even though the government could argue that it was not bound by the injunction. While Johnson has gained a reputation for taking an optimistic approach to international law, he and home secretary Priti Patel have respected this.
But now he wants to follow Dominic Cummings’ advice: “Do mental things to prove you’re not an establishment.” Asked by Daily Telegraph If he were to support the referendum on ECHR membership, he said: “I would support it. I think it’s changed. It has become much more legally adventurous.”
Characteristically, in a subsequent interview to promote his book he backtracked, telling Tom Bradby on ITV: “I’m not sure about that.” to have There will be a referendum.” But the underlying message was clear: the ECHR was unacceptable and the UK should withdraw from it.
This is the policy of Robert Jenrick, who said one of the four candidates for the Conservative Party leadership would “die” if the party did not advocate leaving. When Bradby refused to say which of the four he supported, but instead backed Jenrick, Johnson became enraged and reproachful. “This is a logical fallacy,” Johnson objected.
Whatever it is, it certainly does not help the Conservative Party. Any suggestion that the party should still “keep talking about Europe”, as Cameron puts it, especially after so-called “getting Brexit done”, puts the party out of touch with voters.
The ECHR may be unpopular, but the idea that the Conservative Party should prioritize holding a new referendum on Europe is strange. Especially if, as Kemi Badenoch said, leaving the ECHR is not enough to solve the “root of the problem” regarding small boats.
Johnson runs the risk of confirming its weaknesses with the scattered introduction, which my speed-reading colleagues say makes for a surprisingly dull book. He still dreams of making a comeback, but he doesn’t seem fundamentally serious about preparing for it – just as he wasn’t serious about pursuing power in the first place, except at the last minute when his handlers hid him and made him say as little as possible. public.
Since leaving office, he ran away from a by-election he could have won after being reprimanded by the privileges committee in Uxbridge, and has since steered clear of debates around local Tory associations that could have paved the way for a new rise. return. His reference to Cincinnatus in his farewell speech was telling: The Roman dictator returned to his quiet agricultural life and had to beg for his return to save the republic.
Fewer people will beg Johnson to return to parliament to save the nation. The volatile call for a referendum on the ECHR is likely to lead to a further decline in these numbers.