Members of Boris Johnson’s cabinet failed to speak out while the prime minister spent years damaging democracy at home and the UK’s reputation abroad, John Major told MPs.
The former prime minister warned a commission that democracy was “not inevitable” and could be undone “step by step, action by action, lie by lie”.
“It must be protected at all times, and it seems to me that if our law and our accepted conventions are ignored, then we are on a very slippery slope that ends up tearing our constitution to shreds,” said Major, who said that democracy is “in retreat” elsewhere in the world and should not be taken for granted in the UK.
He added: “What has been done over the last three years has damaged our country at home and abroad and I think it has also damaged the reputation of Parliament.
“The blame for these omissions must be mainly, but not exclusively, on the Prime Minister. But many in his cabinet are also guilty, as are those outside the cabinet who supported him.”
In remarks that are likely to be seen as a scathing criticism of senior Tories, including some of the current hopefuls in his party’s leadership race, he added: “They were silent when they should have been speaking, and they spoke only when their silence became self-defeating.”
He earlier said “the whole country” knew the government had broken the law in what he described as a “litany” of ways: illegally trying to prorogue parliament, ignoring a national lockdown by breaking its own laws in Downing Street and tries to change the laws to “protect their own”. It’s not an exclusive list, he added.
Major was appearing before the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Electoral Commission (PACAC), which was gathering evidence on probity in governance.
During the same appearance, the former Prime Minister said the Cabinet Secretary’s claim that he was “shocked” by Sue Gray’s report was “pushing the rubber too far”.
At an earlier meeting of PACAC, Simon Case said he was “shocked” when he read Gray’s report into the Partygate scandal.
Asked Tuesday if that was credible, Major said: “I think it pushes the elasticity a lot further.”
He added: “It’s quite difficult to accept that there was so much going on in the prison, as Sue Gray’s report put it, without people even knowing it was the case.”
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The former prime minister said such a lack of awareness would represent a “remarkable lack of interest in the workplace”.
He also told PACAC that the Government should show MPs “unwarranted” advice from the Attorney-General on the legality of the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill.
Asked how Parliament should deal with the bill, he said: “Parliament should see, unexplained, the advice of law enforcement officers as to whether or not it breaks the law at home or internationally, and if not, then that is a matter for Parliament.”
“If it does break the law, then it is a bill that should not be brought to Parliament.”
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