September 29, 2019

The rule of law reveals the hypocrisy at the heart of populism

topic:	Human Rights
located:	United Kingdom
editor:	Gurmeet Singh

Brexit Britain continues to be an important, if often tedious, marker for where the world is headed. Famously described as the “most boring crisis ever”, Brexit, however dull and technical the detail might be, actually brings two ideas into sharp contrast: populism and the rule of law.

Populism says “give us back the power”. The rule of law says “you already have the power”. Populism responds, “we want power to stop immigration”. Rule of law: “you already have a lot of that power”. Populism says “we love our country, but everything about it, including the rule of law, is wrong!”

Populism will never be satisfied by the steady functioning of legal machinery, no matter how draconian it can be.

In Britain, people are already being deported because they are unable to fulfil the stringent criteria that seemingly demonstrate their eligibility to remain in the U.K. Including people who were part of the famous 'Windrush' generation. So even though the law is already bent towards deportation, it’s not enough for populism.

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson prorogued Parliament earlier this month. This meant he was given assent by the Queen to suspend Parliament. Parliament could not meet and vote, and therefore would have no time to discuss Brexit before the deadline, which would lead to a ‘no deal’ situation between the U.K. and EU, where no arrangements would be in place to ensure trade and information could flow between the two entities after Brexit.

A ‘no-deal’ Brexit would make it much easier for the U.K. to break away from human rights courts and laws, and to create laws that further punish immigrants, and further benefit corporations.

The Supreme Court of the U.K. ruled unanimously that such a shutdown of Parliament was unlawful, and that Johnson had misled the Queen. Now, you might assume that misleading the monarch and doing something unlawful would be enough for someone in the U.K. to be branded ‘unpatriotic’. Well, for populism, there’s simply no evidence Johnson did anything wrong. He was simply trying to ‘get Brexit done’.

Despite their continued passion for Queen and country and their constant invocation of history, it’s clear that populists have no regard for the way the country functions. They do not actually care about Parliamentary sovereignty, nor do they care about Royalty. They also do not care about the rule of law. That is, they only care about these things, so long as they give their anti-immigrant violence a veneer of respectability. Patriotic heritage and symbolism only make sense if they are bent towards destroying the lives of immigrants.

This week was a victory for the rule of law; one which shows that the law can curb the power of populism, and reveal the hypocrisy at its heart. But since populism can never be satisfied, no action can ever be ‘that bad’. Once Parliament resumed, Johnson blustered and bluffed his way through scrutiny. He gave a startling performance where he shouted down the entire assembly. It worked. His approval ratings went up.

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