The inglorious end of Boris Johnson’s political career should be a lesson for all those who shout “we want to leave the EU but we want to keep the single European economic area”. In reality, the Single European Economic Area is as much an evil as European bureaucracy. It is completely indifferent whether corporate captains advance their interests by corrupting Brussels officials or national politicians. In the latter case, it will cost them a little more, but the impact on citizens and local businesses will be the same. The Hungarian model, where they did not leave the EU but gained control of their own economy, brings much more autonomy than any exit from the EU.
He could not get rid of the free-market mentality. Unfortunately for himself and unfortunately for England.
Matthew Goodwin at Unherd rightly writes that Boris Johnson’s problem was that he had no vision, no ideology and no political philosophy. He won the votes of the manual working classes but had nothing to offer them. For if he had anything to offer them, he would have had to accept state control over key sectors of the economy and that economic conditions must be determined by political objectives, not the other way around. And this he was unable to do. He could not get rid of the free-market mentality. Unfortunately for himself and unfortunately for England.
