Cronyism in UK politics

The politics of our country is plagued with a new type of phenomenon. Cronyism. A phenomenon that governments are practicing in order to gain greater friendship status. Johnson has done it, Cameron has done it and it has to stop. What is cronyism you ask? It is the practice of awarding jobs and other advantages to friends or trusted colleagues, regardless of their qualifications or experience. Proving the fact that in politics it is not what you know but who you know. 

Cronyism perpetuates a circle in which the working class are increasingly at a disadvantage as it tends to be the middle or upper class that have more connections in the political landscape. Especially when it comes to the House of Lords. An ancient upper chamber that serves as a check on the House of Commons, debating and amending legislation. Yet, in recent decades, it has become known as a place in which wealth donors are appointed and other people that are well-connected to members of the government. Therefore, nothing to do with politics. 

David Cameron

Let's start with David Cameron. Cameron practiced the art of cronyism multiple times throughout his tenure in government. His own former election advisor was the Australian Lyton Crosby, a lobbyist for tobacco, alcohol and oil and gas companies. This affected Cameron's decision making as he came under attack by the opposition for dropping curbs on cigarette packaging and alcohol pricing. A clear attempt at pleasing his electoral advisor. 

Mr Cameron's list for MPs for the House of Lords included a Tory donor, a Cabinet minister's adviser, a former No. 10 pollster and a former Conservative Party treasurer. The rules also changed with the appointments of positions during Cameron's time in office. Previously, applicants for non-political public appointments had to disclose any party political activity that they have to the Commissioner for Public Appointments as one of the safeguards for making sure top jobs are not handed to party cronies. However, under the new system of records, instead of recording what percentage of all public appointments are affiliated with a political party, documents will show what percentage of all appointments answer a question relating to political party affiliation. 

This caused a backlash, with the previous co-leader of the Green Party, Jonathan Bartley, stating: "It is no wonder more and more people are disillusioned with politics when we have a system that doesn't just fail to stop politicians handing top jobs to their mates, but also deliberately seeks to hide what's going on." The fact that even David Cameron's hairdresser was given an award for services to hairdressing shows the extent of cronyism in our political system. He had long groomed the hair of a myriad of celebrities and told the London Evening Standard: "I was shocked and panicked. I didn't expect the letter so I thought I hadn't paid my tax." 

Zac Goldsmith 

Cronyism has also been practiced in the appointment of Zac Goldsmith. He lost his seat of Richmond Park in London but remained an environment minister. Downing Street dismissed these allegation of cronyism, however, there is no doubt that it has been practiced. Labour said that Boris Johnson was using the Lords to appoint "jobs for mates." He was ultimately made a peer only so he could keep his government job. 

In Parliament, members of the government must belong to one of the Houses of Parliament. Therefore, by appointing Goldsmith as a peer he could remain as a government minister despite not holding a seat as an MP in the House of Commons. This appointment also came after Nicky Morgan was given a peerage so she could remain as culture secretary in government despite standing down as an MP. This truly shows the level of corruption prominent in order to get a PM's favourites by his side in Parliament. 

Boris Johnson 

Cronyism has appeared yet again in the government we have today. I am sure that recently you have seen the handing out of peerages on the news, which can now be classed as one of Britain's most predictable displays of patronage and cronyism. For some people now, it does not even provoke a reaction. On his list, there was Evgeny Lebedev, who owns The London Evening Standard and is a close friend of Johnson Mr Lebedev's father and bankroller, Alexander, is an oligarch who once worked for the K.G.B and has financed Novaya Gazeta, a liberal-leaning paper disliked by the Kremlin. The young Mr Lebedev is known for throwing parties in his converted castle in Italy. Johnson was photographed in 2018 at an airport, returning from one of them. Yet again, another aspect of clear cronyism to bag another party invite. 

Additionally, on the list were two vocal Brexiteers. Ian Botham, who is a charismatic retired cricket player and loudly advocated for Brexit. But his skills do not obviously include the scrutiny of government legislation. Also Claire Fox, a writer and politician who began as a Communist and migrated to the right over the years, joining the Brexit party and serving in the European Parliament. Her past commitment to 'free speech' has included membership of a communist group that expressed support for the IRA and defending on the radio the right of Gary Glitter to download child pornography. The thing is that Johnson could have easily appointed a few wise, experienced and deserving people to do good work in the upper chamber. However, he has chosen to reward cronies in order to conform to window dressing in his party. 

Johnson has followed his own narrow self-interest instead of public opinion. Not surprising. The thing which is the tip of the iceberg in Johnson's display of cronyism is the peerage of Jo Johnson - his brother and a remainer who resigned from government last September over its Brexit shenanigans. This has been overlooked because of course, it is his brother. Perhaps an attempt to heal the brotherly relationship? 

Lastly, Johnson also nominated Philip May, the former prime minister Theresa May's husband, for a knighthood for 'political service' just as Denis Thatcher did. However, no prime ministers' wives have ever been nominated for peerage - not Samantha Cameron, Cherie Blair, Norma Major nor Sarah Brown. The list is offensive to the ordinary people that he professes to champion and to the many peers who work hard and conscientiously to improve our national life. With the length of the list, he will increase the membership of the Lords to nearly 830, which is 160 more than 20 years ago. A chamber that ultimately needs to go. 

COVID-19 

Lastly, cronyism has not exempted itself from the pandemic. £156 million of taxpayer's money was wasted on 50 million face masks deemed unsuitable for the NHS. Of course, they were bought from a private equity firm through a company that had no track record of producing personal protective equipment and that had a share capital of just £100. But, this company, Prospermill, had a crucial element. It was co-owned by Andrew Mills, an adviser to the government, advocate for Brexit and cheerleader for the international trade secretary of the government, Liz Truss. 

Additionally, a political consultancy firm with strong ties to Dominic Cummings and Michael Gove managed to win an £840,000 contract without any negotiation. Public First is a small research company, but it is run by James Frayn, an anti-EU friend of Cummings going back two decades and his wife, Rachel Wolf, the former Gove adviser who co-wrote the Tory manifesto last year. It was essentially fast tracked to receiving a contract due to the practice of cronyism. 

In this pandemic, we also seen two former Conservative MP's being appointed to senior tourism jobs despite an apparent lack of direct expertise in the sector. Sir Patrick McLoughlin and Nick de Bois were given roles at the British Tourist Authority and VisitEngland. McLoughlin, who stepped down as an MP at December's election, had been made the chair of the board, which is the governing body of VisitBritain. The role pays £40,000 a year for an average of 2 days a week, despite him not having direct experience of the tourism industry. 

De Bois held the Enfield North seat from 2010 to 2015, and was later chief of staff for Dominic Raab, when he was Brexit secretary. Aside from politics, his background is in the events and exhibitions sector. He has been made chair of the VisitEngland advisory board, another part-time role, which will pay up to £16,320 a year for a maximum of four days work a month on a three-year contract. He replaces Denis Wormwell, a person with extensive tourism expertise and had spent 30 years in the travel, hospitality and transport sectors.

Ultimately, cronyism in government is having a negative impact. We are experiencing a cummings effect where his disregard of rules during lockdown has had a devastating impact in our faith in the government's handling of the pandemic. And cronyism is not making the situation better. Through the cronyism of the members of Parliament, they are draining trust at a time when it is essential for public health.