Cargando…

Boris Johnson: the moral case for government resignations in July 2022

Although comparatively rare, political resignations are essential for the health of democracy and political institutions. Protagonists risk their political careers when resigning but can hold governments to account and make real the Nolan principles of public life. In July 2022, an unprecedented 62...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Walker, Robert
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Palgrave Macmillan UK 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9702785/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36909776
http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/s41293-022-00221-y
_version_ 1784839726346272768
author Walker, Robert
author_facet Walker, Robert
author_sort Walker, Robert
collection PubMed
description Although comparatively rare, political resignations are essential for the health of democracy and political institutions. Protagonists risk their political careers when resigning but can hold governments to account and make real the Nolan principles of public life. In July 2022, an unprecedented 62 resignations ended Boris Johnson’s time as British prime minister to be replaced first by Liz Truss and then, 44 days later, by Rishi Sunak, the second minister to resign. An inductive, qualitative, content analysis of the resignation letters elucidates the reasons for the resignations and highlights the ethical dilemmas that confronted would be resignees. Events lessened the effectiveness of government, triggered fears for the electoral prospects of the Conservative Party and separately challenged individuals’ personal integrity. Considerations that prevented resignees acting earlier—promises that things would change, competing loyalties, fear of reprisal, love of job, attachment to status and allegiance to ideological faction—may partially explain why much of government remained in post in July.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-9702785
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2022
publisher Palgrave Macmillan UK
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-97027852022-11-28 Boris Johnson: the moral case for government resignations in July 2022 Walker, Robert Br Politics Original Article Although comparatively rare, political resignations are essential for the health of democracy and political institutions. Protagonists risk their political careers when resigning but can hold governments to account and make real the Nolan principles of public life. In July 2022, an unprecedented 62 resignations ended Boris Johnson’s time as British prime minister to be replaced first by Liz Truss and then, 44 days later, by Rishi Sunak, the second minister to resign. An inductive, qualitative, content analysis of the resignation letters elucidates the reasons for the resignations and highlights the ethical dilemmas that confronted would be resignees. Events lessened the effectiveness of government, triggered fears for the electoral prospects of the Conservative Party and separately challenged individuals’ personal integrity. Considerations that prevented resignees acting earlier—promises that things would change, competing loyalties, fear of reprisal, love of job, attachment to status and allegiance to ideological faction—may partially explain why much of government remained in post in July. Palgrave Macmillan UK 2022-11-25 2023 /pmc/articles/PMC9702785/ /pubmed/36909776 http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/s41293-022-00221-y Text en © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited 2022, Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law. This article is made available via the PMC Open Access Subset for unrestricted research re-use and secondary analysis in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for the duration of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic.
spellingShingle Original Article
Walker, Robert
Boris Johnson: the moral case for government resignations in July 2022
title Boris Johnson: the moral case for government resignations in July 2022
title_full Boris Johnson: the moral case for government resignations in July 2022
title_fullStr Boris Johnson: the moral case for government resignations in July 2022
title_full_unstemmed Boris Johnson: the moral case for government resignations in July 2022
title_short Boris Johnson: the moral case for government resignations in July 2022
title_sort boris johnson: the moral case for government resignations in july 2022
topic Original Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9702785/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36909776
http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/s41293-022-00221-y
work_keys_str_mv AT walkerrobert borisjohnsonthemoralcaseforgovernmentresignationsinjuly2022