the times | Wednesday April 13 2022 33
Leading articles
present his departure as that modern rarity, a prin-
cipled resignation.
Such a resignation might well have increased
Mr Sunak’s standing with the public, even if it
damaged him within the party as acting in his own
interests. A snap poll showed that by a majority of
two to one, voters wanted he and Mr Johnson to
quit. Resigning could have paved the way for a
return to the cabinet after a spell on the back-
benches, or indeed provided an exit from politics
to resume his financial career. In contrast, staying
carries risks. Mr Sunak’s standing with the public,
which has already plummeted, may fall further.
That could make him even more dispensable to
Mr Johnson, who is known for the unsentimental
ruthlessness with which he dispatches those who
have outlived their usefulness. Will the prime
minister really stick with his damaged chancellor
in the run-up to the next general election?
Yet Mr Sunak will have been aware his resigna-
tion would have been destabilising for the govern-
ment. It would have increased pressure on Mr
Johnson’s own position, undermining his implicit
defence that the Downing Street parties were not
such a big deal. Moreover, is now really the mo-
ment to trigger what would be a leadership con-
test, given that there is a war in Europe and acost-of-living crisis? His departure would also
have guaranteed the Tories an even tougher time
in next month’s local elections, where polls sug-
gest they are heading for extensive losses. Nor are
the Conservatives blessed with obvious successors
to Mr Johnson. Few believe that Liz Truss, the for-
eign secretary and bookies’ favourite to replace
the prime minister, has the gravitas or skills to do
the job successfully.
Of course the risk for Mr Sunak, and indeed for
the government, is that even with the cabinet cir-
cling the wagons around the prime minister, the
scandal is not going to go away. These fines related
to just one party. Mr Johnson remains under in-
vestigation for five more, which means that more
fines may be delivered and more apologies
needed. And while most Conservative MPs seem
inclined to stick with the prime minister, that
could change by the time they return to Westmin-
ster next week if public anger builds on the door-
step when they are out canvassing for the elec-
tions. What seems certain is that the reputation of
Mr Johnson and the government has been severe-
ly damaged. Even if the prime minister holds on to
his job for now, the government has a mountain to
climb to win back public trust if it is to win the next
general election.holds that an attack on one member state is an
attack on all. Polls suggest that public support in
Finland for Nato membership has doubled to
about 60 per cent since the invasion, while in Swe-
den, it is about 50 per cent.
Nato has rightly indicated it would welcome
both countries as members, bringing the total to- Both could make a significant contribution to
the alliance’s capabilities. As partners, both
already participate in peacekeeping operations
and maintain interoperable capabilities. Finland,
with a population of 5.6 million, is one of the few
European countries to maintain conscription and
can call on up to 280,000 troops. Both Finland and
Sweden have already committed to increase
co-operation on security in the Baltic Sea via regu-
lar policy dialogues and exchanges of information
on threats such as hybrid warfare.
Nonetheless, Nato membership brings risks,
not least that Russia would see it as a provocation.
Dmitry Peskov, Mr Putin’s spokesman, said that
their accession “will not bring stability to the
European continent”. Hours later, Russian missile
systems were seen being transported towards the
Finnish border in unverified footage shared on-
line. On the other hand, an extended Nato border
would oblige Mr Putin to strengthen Russia’s
northwestern flank, thereby further stretching his
military. Sweden’s prime minister, Magdalena An-
dersson, previously ruled out joining Nato over
concerns it would further destabilise the region
but has shifted her position since the invasion.
What is clear is that regardless of what Finland
and Sweden decide, Nato needs to significantly in-
crease its defensive capabilities. Russia’s aggres-
sion towards Ukraine has shown that the alliance’s
previous “tripwire” approach to stationing forces
on its eastern flank is no longer sufficient. The US
has already deployed an extra 20,000 troops to
Europe supplementing the 80,000 on the conti-
nent. That brings the total number of Nato forces
stationed from the Baltic to the Black Sea to deter,
and if necessary repel, a Russian invasion to
140,000, with further reinforcements promised.
That Russia now looks likely to be confronted by
not only a longer border with Nato but a better de-
fended one only underlines the scale of Mr Putin’s
strategic blunder.The introduction of garden gnomes to Britain is
attributed to Sir Charles Isham, an eccentric aris-
tocrat. On a visit to Nuremberg in 1847, he became
fascinated by terracotta figurines of these crea-
tures of German legend and brought them back to
his ancestral seat of Lamport Hall in Northamp-
tonshire. His intention was to use the gnomes as
ornaments for the dinner table, yet this plan foun-
dered on the objection of Lady Isham, who
thought they were hideous and were to have no
place anywhere indoors, let alone in her sight. So
Sir Charles built a garden grotto for them, and
then a bedroom extension to his Palladian man-sion to overlook it, perhaps to observe the gnomes
beavering away nocturnally with their pickaxes.
The import and manufacture of gnomes, later in
cement and plastic, became a feature of the land-
scape. The boom years, hastened by Walt Disney’s
film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, came in
the 1930s to the 1960s. Major Garden Ornaments,
a company founded by the parents of Sir John
Major, the former prime minister, brought these
creatures of myth to many British gardens.
Though their time may now have passed, their
absence will be lamented by cartoonists and parts
of suburbia.Party Line
Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak have refused to resign after being fined for attending
lockdown parties. But public trust in the government has been severely damaged
Boris Johnson offered a full apology to the public
yesterday after becoming the first prime minister
to be found guilty of law-breaking while in office.
Mr Johnson said he had paid the fine issued by
police for attending a party to celebrate his birth-
day in the cabinet room, although he insisted he
had only been there for nine minutes and it did not
occur to him that he might have broken the rules.
He made clear he had no intention of resigning.
Yet it was only several hours later that Rishi Sunak
issued a similar statement after being fined for
attending the same party. The chancellor, known
to be furious at being dragged into the dispute, ac-
knowledged public anger but indicated he too in-
tends to remain in his job. The long delay was a
sign his decision was finely balanced.
It is easy to see why Mr Sunak might have con-
sidered it in his interests to resign. He has had a
torrid few weeks in which his political judgment
has been called into question, first over his poorly
received spring statement and more recently over
his family’s financial arrangements. These mis-
steps had already led to speculation about his
future, speculation that was fuelled by his allies
who briefed last week that he was ready to walk
away. Quitting after being fined for breaking the
government’s own lockdown rules was a chance toExpanding Nato
The military alliance should welcome Finland and Sweden as members
If Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of
Ukraine in part to prevent the encroachment of
Nato upon Russia’s borders it has backfired spec-
tacularly. While Ukrainians have been putting up
a remarkable resistance, inflicting a defeat on the
Russian army in the north of the country, Mos-
cow’s other neighbours have been drawing their
own conclusions. Finland, which has an 830-mile
border with Russia, will decide by mid-summer
whether to join the alliance, abandoning its long-
standing policy of non-alignment. A government-
commissioned security review is due to be deliv-
ered to parliament next week. Sweden is also con-
ducting a security review that could see it seek
Nato membership.
That Finland and Sweden might be considering
such a momentous step is hardly surprising. Al-
though both are Nato partners, they have until
now considered themselves well served by a policy
of neutrality and maintaining a pragmatic rela-
tionship with Russia. But the risk that the conflict
in Ukraine escalates to the rest of Europe has
highlighted their lack of formal security guaran-
tees. Neither benefits from Nato’s Article 5, whichLandscape Loser
Garden gnomes are becoming an endangered species
A national obsession was immortalised by the Vic-
torian poet Thomas Edward Brown: “A garden is a
lovesome thing, God wot!” The gardener imposes
order on nature to beautify it further. The effect is
crowned by the use of statuary, fountains, topiary,
colonnades, treillage, parterres and gnomes.
Gnomes? Well, perhaps not. A survey of people
aged over 65 suggests their tastes are more for
modern conveniences than for the archetypal gar-
den ornament. More than half believe gnomes are
an outdated decoration, and it is undeniable they
have gained a reputation for being kitsch, vulgar
and unsightly. Yet it was not always so.UK: Michael Gove, the housing secretary,
is to deliver an update on negotiations with
the housing industry for funding plans to
fix unsafe cladding.
One of Britain’s
most glamorous
spring migrants has
arrived back on the
River Tyne. After a
winter roaming the
North Sea and
Atlantic, kittiwakes have returned to breed
on the riverside ledges of Newcastle and
Gateshead. The pelagic (seagoing) species
usually nests on coastal cliffs but more than
1,000 pairs of these nimble members of the
seagull clan lay their eggs along the tidal
Tyne — the most inland kittiwake colony in
the world. To them the iconic buildings of
the Baltic Flour Mill and the Tyne Bridge
are a pair of towering sea stacks. To hear
their cries — “kitt-i-wake, kitt-i-wake!” — is
to realise that cities are just exciting wildlife
habitats in waiting. jonathan tulloch
In 1981 a Washington Post reporter, Janet
Cooke, was awarded a Pulitzer prize for her
story about an eight-year-old heroin addict.
Two days later Cooke admitted that the
story had been fabricated.
Melanie Reid, pictured,
journalist, writer of the
Spinal Column for The
Times (since 2010), 65;
Prof Sir Leszek
Borysiewicz,
immunologist, chairman,
Cancer Research UK, 71;
Lyn Brown, Labour MP for West Ham,
shadow foreign, Commonwealth and
development affairs minister, 62; Prof
Michael S Brown, geneticist, 1985 Nobel
prizewinner for discoveries about the
regulation of cholesterol metabolism, 81;
Peter Davison, actor, All Creatures Great
and Small (1978-90), Doctor Who (1980-84),
71; Edward Fox, actor, The Day of the Jackal
(1973), Gandhi (1982), 85; Bryony Frost, the
first female jockey to win the King George
VI Chase at Kempton, 27; Al Green, soul
singer, Let’s Stay Together (1972), 76; Alan
Hodson, chairman, Charity Bank, Great
Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity
(2007-15), 60; Garry Kasparov, world chess
champion in 1985, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1993 and
1995, and human rights activist, writer,
Winter Is Coming: Why Vladimir Putin and
the Enemies of the Free World Must Be
Stopped (2015), 59; Brigitte Macron, wife of
President Macron of France, 69; Ugo
Monye, rugby union player, England
(2008-12), now a pundit, 39; Philip Norman,
author and journalist, Shout!: The Beatles in
Their Generation (1981), Paul McCartney: The
Biography (2016), 79; Jonjo O’Neill,
racehorse trainer, 70; Ron Perlman, actor,
Sons of Anarchy (2008-13), 72; Chris Riddell,
political cartoonist, writer and illustrator,
children’s laureate (2015-17), 60; Eric Salama,
chairman, Comic Relief, chief executive,
Kantar Group (2003-20), 61; Dame Vivien
Rose, justice of the Supreme Court,
president of the tax and chancery chamber
of the Upper Tribunal (2015-18), 62; Paul
Sorvino, actor, Goodfellas (1990), 83; John
Swinney, SNP MSP for Perthshire North,
deputy first minister of Scotland and the
Scottish cabinet secretary for Covid
recovery, 58.
“We’re trying to sell peace, like a product, you
know, and sell it like people sell soap or soft
drinks.” John Lennon, singer-songwriter,
The David Frost Show (June 14, 1969)
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