Johnson’s pursuit of Brexit will burn the political system to the ground

I wrote on the pages of the Meath Chronicle last week about the disregard for law and order, and how Ireland is not immune from politicians playing fast and loose with the rules of state. It’s been a hot topic in the last few days, particularly given what’s been going on across the water.
And they say a week is a long time in politics… it was only this day last week that the UK’s Supreme Court issued a bolt from the blue by telling Boris Johnson he had unlawfully shut down parliament. If the stated reason was to arrange a ‘Queen’s speech’ – a statement of forthcoming government policy – the suspension only needed to be a few days long.

Judges are traditionally reluctant to intervene or review anything the see as a political act. The fact that the British judges felt the need – unanimously – to overturn Johnson’s suspension must indicate that the fundamentals of democracy were being trampled upon.
But it is because of this that any reader ought to be worried about the direction of political debate in its wake.

First, a quick civics lesson. There are three ‘branches’ of government: the executive branch (ministers), the legislature (parliament – TDs and senators) and the judiciary (courts). The three pillars of power are all part of a complex network, each with limited ability to act as a check on the others. Judges are there to ensure the law is correctly applied, but parliaments have the power to change the law if they are unhappy with a judge’s finding. Ministers are given a certain amount of authority to act as they like, but must do so within the limits of whatever laws parliaments have passed, and are answerable to parliament about the use of that power. Judges are chosen by ministers, but ministers are (usually) elected by the parliament. You should be getting the general idea that the legislature is the ‘strongest’ branch of government: that’s because it’s the only one elected by, and answerable to, the general public.

Boris Johnson’s messaging of the last few months has been to portray Brexit as a case of ‘people versus parliament’: if the current batch of MPs won’t allow him to leave the EU, he’ll go looking for another parliament that will. The expressed will of the people is that the UK needs to get out, so any move by parliament to frustrate this – even if those MPs are pursuing a different Brexit, rather than stopping it altogether. Now the judiciary have fallen into the same category of enemy: judges are now just ‘elite Remoaners’ trying to foil the will of the people.

In truth Johnson wanted to subvert the usual patterns and make himself unanswerable to parliament, so tactically tried to shut it down for over a month. The executive branch tried to neuter the legislature, so the judiciary duly stepped in to restore the balance. This is exactly how the checks and balances of power are supposed to work.

If only the British public understood this. The obvious tactic for the next couple of weeks – especially as the Tory conference continues – is to inflame public opinion to such a point that the other branches of government simply buckle and allow him either to leave the UK, hold a general election, or ideally both.

As a short-term policy it’s probably not a bad one. 17.4 million people voted for Brexit and the mandate is clearly not being delivered on. Moreover, it seems increasingly unlikely that Brexit can be abandoned. The world is only just getting over the existential financial crisis of ten years ago; there were nearly riots on the streets when people felt the world’s financial system was rigged in favour of those with money. Abandoning Brexit now, when people have become so fervent and radicalised by the debate, would leave those 17.4 million to conclude that democracy itself was rigged, and with good cause to abandon all faith in democracy altogether. Frankly, conditions would be ripe for riots and revolution – and at a time when illiberalism is on the rise worldwide, the consequences could be dire.

But that logic works both ways too. At some point Brexit will be in the past tense; the UK will be gone from the European scene and there will once again be breathing space for discussion on other topics. How’s democracy supposed to work then, if there isn’t still broad public faith in elected politicians; in ministers; in judges?

Attack is clearly the best form of defence for Johnson – a lesson he has learned from Donald Trump, whose own political culture is increasingly toxic. Impeachment might be a worthy endeavour for The Donald but it’s destined to fail. Turfing out a President from his elected role is tantamount to overturning the election; it only ought to be done in the most extreme circumstances. But Democrats have jumped the gun; their inquiry will always simply look premature given it was announced before any damning evidence had come to light.

This ‘scorched earth’ policy could make politics untenable everywhere else. We’re edging dangerously close to a time where neither Britain nor America feel they can trust their democracies. Post-Brexit, post-Trump, people will still need to at least believe democracy is working. If they don’t have faith in the pillars of government, the future is a deeply dark place.

Read Gavan Reilly's column every week in the Meath Chronicle