Imagine if a third of Liberal MPs in Ottawa voted against a bill championed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. You would fall off your chair, right? Me too. And yet, in our parliamentary system, nothing prevents backbenchers from rebelling against their leader.
The British have just reminded us of this. On Tuesday, 99 Conservative MPs politely sent their prime minister, Boris Johnson, for a walk. As a whole, they voted against the imposition of new health rules.
OK, you will say, now is not the time to rebel as the Omicron variant wreaks havoc across the country. Britain on Wednesday declared a record number of new cases of infection since the start of the pandemic: more than 78,000 in a single day. For a country that is already deploring 147,000 deaths from COVID-19, that should ring all the bells of Big Ben at the same time!
Especially since the measures proposed by Boris Johnson are far from draconian. We are talking about the imposition of a vaccine passport to enter nightclubs and major events as well as the return to wearing a mask inside public places. These measures have been in place with us for months and we are very far from the British pandemic situation.
But we must see something else in the rebellion of the Conservative MPs. Collectively, the 99 deputies have just sent a huge warning to their leader who has been collecting scandals for some time.
Boris Johnson has been embarrassed for protecting an MP in flagrant conflict of interest. He has been criticized for the source of the funding for luxury vacations in Mustique Island and for his subsequent explanations.
But it’s the latest revelations that hurt the most. Thanks to photos and videos obtained by the British media, it was learned that two Christmas parties took place at 10 Downing Street, the official residence of the British Prime Minister, on November 27 and December 18, 2020. At the At the same time, in the middle of the second wave, gatherings were banned in Great Britain as well as at home.
Most shocking is the video ITV obtained in which Downing Street spokesperson Allegra Stratton is seen making fun of the whole affair during a press conference rehearsal. The whole thing – a year later – ignites public opinion.
“It shows that Boris Johnson dictates rules that do not apply to him,” notes Frédéric Mérand, professor of political science at the University of Montreal and scientific director of the Center for International Studies and Research (CÉRIUM).
There is a matter of privileges there, which does not pass at all. Privileges are very powerful in politics. We too often forget that the French Revolution first took place to oppose the privileges of the aristocracy.
Frédéric Mérand, professor of political science at the University of Montreal
Even if the privileges linked to social class are very apparent in the British state apparatus – there is still the House of Lords, which is accessed mainly by heredity – there is a limit which should not be exceeded. By giving the impression of making fun of the ordinary citizen, Boris Johnson and his entourage crossed a red line, notes Mr. Mérand.
Labor opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer on Wednesday summed up the affair in one murderous sentence. According to him, Boris Johnson “has lost the confidence of his own deputies and the authority to govern the country in times of crisis”. Despite these harsh comments, it was his party that allowed the Conservative Prime Minister to pass the sanitary measures. The world upside down.
PHOTO JESSICA TAYLOR, PROVIDED BY THE FRANCE-PRESSE AGENCY
Sir Keir Starmer, Leader of the Labor Opposition
It is not yet clear whether this episode in the melodrama that has become British politics will have any long-term repercussions.
Will the Conservative Party replace its leader? It has been seen in the past, and not later than with Theresa May. Unable to rally her troops to the divorce agreement she wanted to propose to the European Union, she left the seat of Prime Minister in July 2019. But still someone would have to want to become the leader of the Conservative Party in place of Boris Johnson as the country accumulates hard knocks. Not a dream job these days.
For us, citizens of a constitutional monarchy copied from the Westminster system, there is above all a reminder that party discipline does not have to be as sacrosanct as it has become, both in Ottawa and in Quebec. Dissent among the ranks of deputies is possible. And sometimes desirable.
Moreover, it is a safe bet that the general interest in parliamentary business would soar if prime ministers and their ministers were occasionally challenged in their own ranks. If they feared a bit of a formidable backbench.