Lichfield Lib Dem Councillor invites Boris Johnson to move on

We believe Councillor Ashton's letter will be of interest to our readers:

The First Lord of the Treasury and Prime Minister (A.B.de P. Johnson), 10 Downing Street, London SW1A 2AA

27 May 2022

Dear Mr Johnson

I am writing this to you in the hope that you will actually read it, and reflect on its contents.

It has come to the public's knowledge that you presided over a culture of illegal behaviour at the heart of government for an extended period of time. You are either complicit in this lawbreaking, or you are so incompetent an overseer of your staff that you failed to recognise this. I am an elected local government official. If I or any of my colleagues had been found to be complicit in such activities, or to have overlooked them for this length of time, we would be expected to resign.

We are being implored by your ministers on social media, in a series of "copy and paste" messages, to "move on" and allow your government to "deliver", as if you were some sort of parcel service. For millions, what you and your team of demonstrably inexperienced and incompetent ministers have delivered is poverty and misery.

You cannot be blamed for the existence of Covid-19. However, the response by you was delayed, and has resulted in many excess deaths. The vaccine programme was carried out by private researchers and the NHS, not by the government. We are still in a pandemic stage with an estimated 100 deaths each day from Covid. Every day I hear of at least one friend who has tested positive. And yet, to satisfy the donors to your coffers, you prefer to tell the country that the pandemic is over.

You have also had to deal with the UK's reaction to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia under Vladimir Putin. Clearly, you are not responsible for that. However, we cannot help but wonder if this invasion would have taken place had not Putin believed that the injections of Russian money into the Conservative Party through proxies, and the friendship with and elevation of members of families of former KGB officers had blunted the will to respond. The public is still waiting for answers to questions raised in this regard.

After assuring us that your government is doing everything in its power to help those millions of families plunged into poverty as prices rise, I now see in the news that some more is actually being done. This has the distinct appearance of yet another U-turn in a desperate attempt to save yourself from further public criticism.

The majority of the nation is tired of your rumpled stuttering "Boris" act. We now see a man who believes he can escape public censure simply by ruffling his hair, visiting a primary school, or putting on a hi-viz vest and helmet before posing for a photo-op pretending to do someone else's job, someone who is unafraid to throw his colleagues and those under him to the wolves as a distraction when things get too tough for him. Apologies followed by abuse are not enough.

Perhaps it's better for now for me to ignore the Brexit deal that you signed in bad faith and are now unsuccessfully attempting to square the circle of the NIP. History will judge your total lack of competence and your dishonesty there. "Take back control of our borders" has proved to be a sick joke, thanks to your Home Secretary's lack of legal knowledge and her desire to pander to the racists and xenophobes who now make up the majority of your supporters.

It is not time for the country to "move on" - it is time for you to move out - move out of Downing Street and the office you have disgraced, and out of public life.

Yours sincerely

Cllr Hugh Ashton