“There has been clear and proven Russian influence in foreign elections… [and] attempts in the EU Referendum,” was the conclusion of Parliament’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee (DCMS) report into ‘Disinformation and Fake News‘ in February 2019.
It found that “strong evidence” pointed to “hostile state actors influencing democratic processes” and made particular reference to the activities of Arron Banks and the Leave-EU campaign during the referendum.
Another parliamentary group, the Intelligence and Security Committee, started work on an inquiry into alleged Russian interference in British democracy in October 2017 and its report submitted to the Prime Minister on 17 October 2019.
During the 2019 General Election campaign, Boris Johnson said he saw “no reason to interfere in the normal timetable” for the report to be published “just because there’s an election going on” and added that he had seen “absolutely no evidence” of interference in “any British electoral event”.
Despite repeated parliamentary and media requests, the report remains secret.
Trust in a crisis
The advice of the Government’s Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies (SAGE) throughout the COVID-19 pandemic has included a very clear need to maintain transparency and public trust.
From the beginning, the Government has continually contradicted itself as it has become increasingly clear that truth and trust have been lost.
This was first evident when questions were asked on 26 March about the Government’s decision not to participate in the European Union’s collaborative effort to procure intensive care ventilators.
Asked why, a Downing Street spokesman said: “Well, we are no longer members of the EU.” That was amended later the same day in another statement which explained that an email inviting the UK to join the scheme had not been received. The week before, the Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock said on BBC Question Time that the Government “engaged with that process today”.
On 21 April, the Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office reported to Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee that “it was a political decision”. That evening, Hancock stated in the daily Coronavirus briefing that there had been no “political decision”. Later that night, the Permanent Under-Secretary issued a retraction stating that ministers were not briefed by the mission in Brussels about the scheme.
This was followed by claims and targets for personal protective equipment and testing that were continually not met. But perhaps the greatest loss of trust followed the repeated denials and conflicting explanations surrounding the Prime Minister’s chief advisor’s trip to Durham during lockdown, including a car journey to Barnard Castle he claimed he made with his wife and child to test his eyesight.
The Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove was asked on radio “would you have gone on a 60-mile round trip to test your eyesight?” and responded: “I may have on occasion driven with my wife in order to make sure that… I am not an expert on driving matters.”
A YouGov poll for the University of Oxford’s Reuters Institute reported a 19 per cent drop in public trust between 14 April and 27 May in the Government’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis, a 13 per cent reduction in trust in politicians generally, and 11 per cent in the news media.
Politicisation of the Civil Service
The Government’s determination to politicise and control the Civil Service was first evident on 13 February, when the then Chancellor Sajid Javid resigned after being told by the Prime Minister that he must sack his entire team of Treasury advisors and accept a team nominated by, and reporting to, Dominic Cummings.
Javid was quickly followed out the door by Sir Philip Rutnam, the Permanent Secretary at the Home Office, who resigned asserting that he had been a victim or “a vicious and orchestrated briefing campaign”.
Last month, the Cabinet Secretary and National Security Advisor Sir Mark Sedwill announced his resignation and his position was quickly filled by the special advisor and political appointee, Sir David Frost – the Government’s chief negotiator in the Brexit negotiations.
Threats to the BBC
During the 2019 General Election campaign, after a series of portrayals of the Prime Minister by BBC News that were perceived by him to be negative, Boris Johnson threatened to review the public broadcaster’s licence fee model. The Chief Secretary to the Treasury also threatened to include a measure to decriminalise the failure to pay the BBC licence fee in the next parliamentary programme.
Following the General Election, neither threat has materialised.
Sir David Clementi, the chairman of the BBC Board, appointed Tim Davie to replace Tony Hall as the corporation’s new Director General early, after speculation that Sir David, whose replacement is due in early 2021 and is in the gift of the Prime Minister, will be replaced by a more compliant political appointee.
The Right to Trial by Jury
According to evidence given by the Lord Chancellor to Parliament’s Justice Committee on 23 June, before COVID-19 arrived, there were approximately 39,214 crown court cases awaiting trial by jury. On 24 May, there were 40,536.
In order to deal with this crisis case load, the Lord Chancellor announced that he is considering reducing jury sizes to only seven and, in some cases, doing away with ‘judgement by one’s peers’ altogether and making do with simply a judge and two magistrates.
This change would require primary legislation and the Lord Chancellor noted that this would require approval before the parliamentary summer recess on 21 July. He has said this will be only a temporary measure – but this is open to question.
Where will diverging interests lead?
The evidence suggests that the Johnson Government has acted with a cavalier sang froid towards the concept of scrutiny – either parliamentary or through the media – which is incompatible with parliamentary sovereignty.
The Government’s actions suggest a desire to govern not through parliamentary democracy and scrutiny but more by executive fiat, where national interest appears to be aligned with the specific interests of the incumbent government, not the national interests of the state.
If the interests of the Government have been diverging from the interests of the population and the state, what might these measures cumulatively represent?
In hindsight, perhaps we will call it a coup and come to regret its impact on all our futures.
Dr Andrew Corbett is a teaching fellow at the Defence Studies Department, King’s College London, and the Joint Services Command and Staff College.
This piece was originally published in the Byline Times