Skip to main content
The roots of this crisis go far deeper than Boris Johnson
As Boris Johnson’s fortunes falter, the true potential of Brexit may yet still be grasped by the building strike wave against the immiseration of post-Covid pay and benefit cuts, argues NICK WRIGHT

THERE IS a palpable sense of crisis attending every action and very utterance of the government.

The startling resignation of Munira Mirza, Johnson’s longest-serving consigliere, a veteran of his days as mayor of London and head of the Downing Street policy unit is just the most significant. Other escapees include the head of communications and chief of staff as well as less elevated functionaries.

Much of the week has been taken up by desperate measures to shore up Johnson’s operation with the appointment of new functionaries and of Jacob Rees Mogg as the bizarrely titled “Brexit opportunities minister.”

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage. Photo: Danny Lawson/PA Wire
Immigration / 24 April 2025
24 April 2025

The left must avoid shouting ‘racist’ and explain that the socialist alternative would benefit all 

ANGER GROWS: Protesters demonstrate in Dover against migrant
Features / 10 April 2025
10 April 2025
The left must confront both far-right bigotry and the undeniable problems the exploitation of migrant workers by the ruling class creates — but there are few lessons from the global left on how to strike this balance, laments NICK WRIGHT
FACING THE RIGHT:
Anti-racist protesters
in Walthamstow, 202
Features / 27 March 2025
27 March 2025
Xenophobic hysteria over the statistically insignificant number of small-boat crossings deliberately conceals how capitalism manipulates population flows for profit — if we can explain that, we’ll beat the right, argues NICK WRIGHT
PREMONITION OF DISASTER: Anonymous photographer, Fallen Stat
Book Review / 18 March 2025
18 March 2025
NICK WRIGHT delicately unpicks the eloquent writings on art of an intellectual pessimist who wears his Marxism lightly
Similar stories
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage smoking outside the Westminste
Features / 12 September 2024
12 September 2024
As angry voters reject austerity, social insecurity and endless war across Europe, the left should be the beneficiary instead of the far right. NICK WRIGHT looks at the ideological hangups holding us back from connecting to these dissenters
European Union flags wave in the wind as pedestrians walk by
Features / 25 July 2024
25 July 2024
As Starmer hints at closer ties, MARTIN HALL warns of the dangers of creeping alignment and calls for a renewed socialist case for independence from Brussels, especially over the EU’s constraints on economic planning
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer poses for a photograph with
Opinion / 10 July 2024
10 July 2024
by Radhika Desai, Alan Freeman and Carlos Martinez