Yes Johnson is on trial, and so he should be. But the key point is that the assumptions on which our unwritten constitution has always been based are no longer valid. Pompous though it may sound a key assumption was goodwill, honour and a bias towards the truth by our elected representatives both inside and outside Parliament. That bias no longer exists.
Yes the truth always has many faces and a belief in it has been under question and tested before. Saddam Hussain did not have Weapons of Mass Destruction but we were told by the Prime Minister that he did and a war was fought on that premise. A Foreign Secretary resigned because of an honest disagreement over Iraq as earlier one had over what he saw as his personal failure over The Falklands.
Today Minsters only seem to resign if they are photographed groping a colleague in a cupboard. Failure to tell the truth is no longer a resigning offence. Which brings one back to the constitution. If precedents are not followed, if the sort of “case law” that precedent is is not applied and if there are no written rules – no statutes – then those in charge today feel empowered to do what they like.
A written constitution is a legally applicable document that has to be followed unless amended. Without one we rely on people to be “Honourable” and even refer to them in Parliament by this designator. In the past they mostly were. And when they weren’t and lied (it happened) they went. No longer.
Paddy’s Blogs in a crazy world 
Paddy, the country is politically utterly broken. Brexit and dishonest politics are slowly draining the lifeblood of the nation. A decade ago such a policy of Patels would have been considered some sick joke by the National Front. (Whatever happened to them) Now the IMF has declared Britain will be the poorest performing G7 nation losing up to 2% of its GDP.
The people responsible for this catastrophe are legion. They are the tax evaders who receive, corrupt payments from Russia. They own wealthy offshore companies that contribute nothing to the exchequer. They manipulate the nation’s politics using barefaced lies and twisted logic. Hold booze parties together in public buildings whilst ordinary people grieved. Britain has descended into an abyss, a truly shocking state of affairs.
I am sincerely glad I live in another saner country called Europe.
LikeLiked by 1 person