'All traditions are at best asleep and at worst destroyed': James O'Brien explores possibility of Labour govt
30 September 2022, 15:15 | Updated: 30 September 2022, 16:10
James O'Brien: There is no resignation issue since Boris
As polls move in favour of Labour, James O'Brien analyses how since Boris Johnson's premiership tradition has broken and it's possible for Labour to win a General Election.
After new YouGov poll is released showing Labour soaring ahead of the Conservative party, James O'Brien gave his enlightened view that perhaps this poll has some political standing.
Addressing YouGov's poll James said: "It is the sort of lead in an opinion poll that you never see and I say that without fear of hyperbole."
"It's highly unlikely to translate into a general election result," he started before meditating on the thought.
"Well he [James himself] says that because that's tradition...because we know how things always pan out," he said referring to the 12 years of governing from the Tory party.
He went on: "I do wonder - well you know I believe - that something profound has broken in this country in recent years and maybe that means that all traditions are at best asleep and at worst destroyed."
James then outlined the untraditional happenings under Mr Johnson's government.
"You think about all the traditions Boris Johnson destroyed, whether it's having an independent ethics advisor who concludes that a cabinet minister is a bully and therefore the cabinet minister has to resign.
"[Or] having a committee to assess whether or not someone is a suitable candidate for a seat in the house of lords. Then when the committee concludes that they're not, sending them away to rewrite it so you can stick the son of a KGB spy in the house of lords."
He continued his list pointing towards Partygate:
"Lying about there being no parties when he was in Downing street during lockdown and then saying 'Well there were parties but I didn't know about them' and then 'Well there were parties but I didn't go to them' to 'Well there were parties I did go to them but I didn't know they were parties'."
James said he could "go on forever" touching upon the "Owen Patterson scandal".
Finally getting to the "soft" and "implicit" traditions he claims Boris Johnson broke he said: "There's no such thing in British politics - at this point - as a resignation issue."
"Even Matt Hancock walked the plank," James remarked.
Describing the concept as "objectively incredible" he said: "Under Boris Johnson's premiership the notion of a resignation issue ceased to exist."
"It has disappeared for the time...and I don't see it coming back any time soon when the Chancellor of the Exchequer has already been responsible for the biggest self-imposed disaster in the history of these islands."
James concluded highlighting the pressures on Kwasi Kwarteng to make a U-turn on his mini-budget or even resign.
