Calling for a new ethical social contract, John Bowers KC says there are “too many cheques and not enough balances” in the UK’s political and constitutional structures.
“Morality sometimes seems to have become divorced from standards,” he writes in his new book Downward Spiral, to be published this month by Manchester University Press.
He continues:
With the decline in standards, the future of our democracy and the very rule of law is at risk. Standards should not be an optional afterthought but instead should be central to public life. We must try now to stop the downward spiral in its tracks.
Bowers, who is principal of Brasenose College Oxford and a leading employment lawyer, called for a “new Nolan-style review to locate an ethical consensus in the form of a Speaker’s conference or commission”. Writing before Sir Lindsay Hoyle MP was dragged into a political row last month, he argued that the Commons Speaker was a figure above politics who could convene the right mixture of politicians and outsiders to consider how best to embed integrity into future structures.
The UK already has a number of regulatory structures. But the seven constitutional watchdogs that currently monitor and regulate the conduct of the executive were criticised as “too weak” in a report by Professor Robert Hazell and Sir Peter Riddell that I covered last month.
Like Bowers, Hazell and Riddell argue that public trust in politicians has fallen to an all-time low. If it is to be restored, they say, “there is an urgent need to repair and rebuild the system for upholding standards in public life”. Their report discusses ways in which this might be achieved by the next government.
Bowers has written a compendious account of the incidents that eroded trust from 2019 to 2022, when Boris Johnson was prime minister — and they didn’t end there. Though the author has interviewed a number of key figures, his book does not claim to be an insider’s account: we recognise and immediately remember the scandals he records. But setting them out, page after page, reminds us of just how many breaches of trust there were. Bowers provides a sense of perspective that is hard to reach while events relentlessly unfold.
Downward Spiral has already been well reviewed in the New Statesman by Marina Wheeler KC. The magazine correctly describes her as a “barrister, mediator and author”. But it was careful not to point out why she writes with such authority about a prime minister who is accused by Bowers of trashing constitutional norms and demeaning standards in public life. Wheeler was married to Johnson from 1993 to 2020 — though the couple separated a year or so before he became prime minister.
It would not have been wise to mention her personal life, given a comment by another political wife that she quotes in her review. Wheeler defends Dame Kate Bingham, former head of the Covid vaccine taskforce, against a careless slight by Bowers — though that was nothing compared to more than 20 hostile articles in the Guardian, by Wheeler’s count, which relied on the fact that Bingham was married to a Tory MP to make unjustified allegations of cronyism and corruption.
“Yes, I happened to be married to a Conservative MP and minister,” Bingham later wrote. “Since when is that a crime… And what did that have to do with my own political views? Are wives still viewed as chattels?”
Wheeler’s separation from Johnson came after she discovered her husband was having an affair with Carrie Symonds, whom he later married. One of Wheeler’s friends, quoted by the Sunday Times last year, imagines what might have been:
The great tragedy in all of this was that if he and Marina had stayed together, there would have never been all that nonsense when he was at Downing Street. He always had his failings, but she would never have put up with all that carry-on. She is far stronger than him and brighter in every way.
Every leader needs a sounding board, an adviser, someone who is secure enough to speak truth to power. A weak and vacillating prime minister may be transformed by a strong and decisive spouse.
We certainly need more checks and fewer cheques. But character counts for something too. For a prime minister who pays no heed to the still small voice of conscience, each new regulatory structure and advisory board may simply be a hurdle to be jumped.
An eagle’s eye for spotting the mistake “cheques” by KC Bower. Maybe the quote, “Behind every successful man is a great woman” should read “Behind every successful man is a woman of integrity” to ensure standards are preserved.
The media attacks on Kate Bingham were indeed lazy and discreditable journalism. There was also, I fear, the prospect of it since her appointment followed so shortly after different, cronyish,Covid focused appointments. My recollection is that I had been more or less on the nursery slopes of my forty seven years of legal practice when along came Nolan, where the last, unequivocal word had seemed to be uttered. With any involvement in appointments thereafter, far from always for voluntary posts, enormous pains were taken to get things “Nolan-proof”. I hasten to add however that the tap on the (far too often masculine) shoulder very much had had its day, although in my experience invariably for voluntary posts. That post- Nolan changed with a vengeance - and rightly- and indeed occupied of necessity a good deal of (yes) voluntary time. Both interviewer and interviewed (I grew familiar with both roles) had had to go through the mangle. However civilised and necessary it decidedly was it could be awkward with friends and colleagues; generally it all went off without rancour. Being turned down from time to time - to be frank- provided me with a healthy dose of humility. Has all of that now truly been dissipated ? Presumably for hefty financial benefit the line has been much tougher to defend than that and ,to be candid once more , the less tangible career and profitability enhancement of “labour for free” posts could be very real. In the political arena being caught out and THEN failing to resign has wrought untold damage to the public’s trust and belief in the entire system- and it is hard altogether to blame them. I think I agree with Mr. Bowers: Nolan Mark 2 it may have to be.