Don’t Preach to Us About Integrity
Sunak promised integrity, professionalism and accountability. He has already failed.
On the 25th of October, in Rishi Sunak’s first speech as British Prime Minister, he promised “integrity, professionalism and accountability at every level of government.”
On the same day, Mr Sunak appointed Suella Braverman, Nadhim Zahawi and James Cleverley to senior positions in his government.
In the past few months it has become clear that Tory MPs suffer from amnesia. But don’t preach to us about integrity.
Suella Braverman, arguably the worst of a bad bunch, became a household name earlier this month when she told a journalist, “I would love to have a front page of The Telegraph with a plane taking off to Rwanda, that’s my dream, it’s my obsession.” The subtext here is that Braverman (a wealthy Cambridge grad) dreams of sending asylum seekers (meaning people fleeing from their home country for fear of their life) as far away from Britain as possible (to a country with a less than stellar human rights record). It should be noted that in his first speech as PM Sunak also promised compassion. By reappointing Braverman as home secretary he has shown he is devoid of any.
But this shouldn’t shock anyone, Tory MPs have shown that empathy is not a characteristic they value. What should shock many is that Braverman had been forced to resign just six days earlier from the same job. Her firing - as a result of intentionally sending a government email to her private email and then forwarding it to multiple people - and then rehiring less than a week later, shows that Sunak doesn’t plan to show any more integrity, professionalism or accountability than Truss and Johnson did before him.
Nadhim Zahawi, while less evil, shows again that Sunak doesn’t value integrity. On July 6th, in Boris Johnson’s government, Zahawi was promoted to Chancellor of the Exchequer after Rishi Sunak resigned. The next morning, amidst the Boris controversy, he claimed Johnson was the man to lead the country. Later that same evening he insisted that Boris must step down.
Fast forward three months and Zahawi was backing Boris again, claiming he was the only man to lead the country after the Truss mess. On Sunday, October 23rd, The Daily Telegraph published an article, written by Zahawi, which claimed Boris was “the man who will make the Tories great again”. The article was quickly unpublished as Boris announced he wouldn’t be running for leader. Then just one day later and fully aware he had backed the wrong horse, Zahawi decided that Sunak was undoubtedly the man who should lead the country.
At this point it was clear that Zahawi cares nothing about policy or principals and only about self-preservation and a ministerial paycheck. And as the Oxford Dictionary defines integrity as “having strong moral principles”, it became clear that Zahawi, who Sunak has appointed as chairman of the party, doesn’t possess it, either.
Now, the problem with promoting individuals that clearly contradict the principles you claim your government possesses, is that it becomes quite easy to pick holes in their characters. This, unfortunately, is where Foreign Secretary James Cleverely fell down.
In an interview with BBC Radio 4 on the 26th of October, Nick Robinson quizzed Cleverly on the Braverman appointment. In the exchange Cleverly admits Braverman made a mistake, then when pushed on the question of integrity the Foreign Secretary denied knowing what that mistake was. When asked for an example of a person being sacked and reoffered the job a week later, Cleverly was unable to answer. Does that strike you as a man showing integrity?
And then there's Sunak.
Integrity? He, along with Boris Johnson, attended parties in Downing Street while families across the UK missed funerals. Compassion? During the pandemic Sunak cut universal credit. Accountability? Sunak increased taxation on ordinary Britons while his millionaire wife avoided paying an estimated £20 million in UK taxes.
On the 24th of October Rishi Sunak became the third British prime minister in two months. The revolving door that is the Conservative Party leadership now means that 30% of UK leaders since World War II have been appointed in the last six years.
Sunak can claim to be more polished than the ones that have proceeded him. But integrity? Don’t preach to us about integrity.