Boris Johnson Estonian presidency/CC (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)
Katie Simpson, Northampton Socialist Party
Five Tory aides have quit. The Boris Johnson government faces growing anger for partying in 10 Downing Street, as people were forced to stay at home or pay hefty fines for breaking lockdown rules.
The Tory party is riven by splits. And the row over ‘partygate’ is revealing this even more openly.
The public have not been satiated by pitiful apologies from Boris. He’s only ‘sorry’ because he got caught.
Tory MPs have angered constituents by defending Johnson. Peter Bone, Tory MP for Wellingborough, said that his constituents had “moved on”, and described Boris’s party as “accepting cake and eating it”.
In reality, Boris and his cabinet broke numerous rules during the height of the lockdown. From Dominic Cummings “testing his eyesight” by driving to Barnard Castle, to Matt Hancock’s inability to socially distance himself from a Tory aide. All this while people missed birthdays, weddings, funerals and the chance to be by their loved ones side as they passed.
It is unlikely that a new Tory prime minister will be able to put a lid on the growing frustration among the public. But with pro-austerity Sir Keir Starmer leading the Labour ‘opposition’, people are looking for another political alternative.
The working class deserves an electoral choice which represents their interests. That’s why the Socialist Party is backing and standing candidates under the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) banner. We’re ordinary working-class activists, who stand against cuts and privatisation, and if elected as MPs, like Dave Nellist in Birmingham Erdington, we would only take an average worker’s wage.
