TO GO OR NOT TO GO: that was the question that faced the Prime Minister on Monday this week, when the preliminary report of the Sue Gray Enquiry was debated in the House of Commons.
One of the MPs on the Government benches stated that a culture of heavy drinking and partying had been a characteristic of life in Number 10 Downing Street for decades. Boris Johnson himself said that some 400 people are involved in the affairs of government at that address, with the implication that clearly, he could not oversee all their activities.
Boris’s easy-going philosophy of life
Nevertheless, he is the head of the household, and he is therefore responsible for everything that takes place there, as he acknowledged. He had the authority to change the culture – especially in times of crisis such as those through which we have been living in the past two years. But Boris’s easy-going philosophy of life would not have recognised that anything was wrong in the odd after-hours drinking, or the extended lunch-hour event to mark the departure of a colleague. It was all part of life at Number 10, and it would not even have occurred to him that other people, enduring the hardships of lockdown, might not have approved.
Boris has his own code of behaviour, and he makes up the rules as he goes along. He is the ultimate pragmatist – if it works and furthers his purpose, then it is good. Of course, he is sorry when he hears that other people are not happy with the things that he has done. He is genuinely sorry, because he had never thought that what he was doing might be different from what everyone else was doing – he really would not have thought about it, because he lives in a world of his own. So, it comes as a surprise to him that things which were really of no importance, such as the everyday culture of life in Number 10, could possibly be offensive to other people – and he is genuinely sorry. He simply cannot understand why everyone cannot accept his apology and let the world move on.
It’s not fair!
But the Boris problem has uncovered a crisis in the national conscience. It’s a question of values. The whole nation is behaving like infants in the playground where everyone is expected to conform to the same rules or they shout, “It’s not fair!” Why should he be first in line, or be given an extra treat? It’s not fair!
But it is not only Boris who needs to look in the mirror – it is the whole nation!
It is not fair in the eyes of those who wish they were having the extra treat or the extra privilege. They are driven by envy, and if they had been in the privileged position, they would have done just the same as the one they are criticising. Of course, this does not exonerate Boris, who has no understanding of ‘servant leadership’, which is why he refuses to fall on his sword. He still thinks he’s a great leader in the Churchillian mode. But Churchill was a Bible-believing man of prayer.
But it is not only Boris who needs to look in the mirror – it is the whole nation! It is not Boris who has changed. It is the nation’s perception of him that has changed. He is the same man for whom the nation voted two years ago and gave him the biggest majority any Prime Minister has had for decades. Everyone knew about his easy-going attitude to morality and his economy with the truth – but this was part of his appeal to the public who saw him as being “just like us!”
Now, the media is full of a great display of public hypocrisy as we are treated day after day to emotional stories of people shut in their homes while Boris enjoyed his birthday cake in Number 10! It’s not fair!
What a load of rubbish! Boris did not create the pandemic. But the great British public must have someone to blame! Isn’t it time we all looked into the mirror and asked ourselves some fundamental questions – such as why has this plague swept across the nations?
We will probably never know how the plague started, and whether or not it is a human creation – it certainly is an evil force, so we know that the God of Creation, revealed in the Bible as a God of love, peace, and justice, would not have created something evil. But God, in his sovereign power, has allowed it to happen; so surely, we should be asking the question – WHY?
The answer is there in the Bible – God hates injustice: vast numbers of God’s children go to bed hungry every night while others are dining on rich food – millions are starving while others are feasting – it’s not fair!
God hates violence and the shedding of innocent blood – there are wars, threats of war, slaughter of the innocents and millions of aborted babies thrown into the incinerator throughout the world – it’s not fair!
God hates injustice: vast numbers of God’s children go to bed hungry every night while others are dining on rich food – millions are starving while others are feasting – it’s not fair!
God’s love showed the way
The God of justice who loves all his creation, grieves over his children and abhors their wickedness, their misuse of the wonderful gifts of creation including the gift of life, both human and animal. God went to the utmost limits to demonstrate the values we should follow if we want to enjoy peace and plenty. He even came in human form and allowed the wickedness of humanity to murder him as a common criminal to demonstrate his incredible love, and to expose the vileness of human sin.
When will we look into the mirror and see ourselves as we really are? And come weeping before our loving Heavenly Father – asking for his help and the power to become the children of God that we truly are. As the Apostle John says: “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1).
