The Economist - UK (2022-04-16)

48 Britain The Economist April 16th 2022

chequer,  was  supposed  to  be  thealterna­

tive. He is diligent, thoughtful andserious,

especially compared with the primeminis­

ter—a  family  man  next  to  a  manofmany

families.  When  revelations  ofpartiesin

Downing  Street  first  emerged,MrSunak

was  slow  to  support  the  primeminister

and  quick  to  chide  him.  Mr  Johnson“was

right  to  apologise”,  he  said,primly. But

now Mr Sunak too has been fined.Hispop­

ularity  was  fading  anyway  aslivingstan­

dards fall (see chart). It may vanishentirely

as Britons digest the fine and recentrevela­

tions  that  his  wife,  Akshata  Murthy,isa

“non­dom” for tax purposes. 

Other  potential  successorshaveblun­

dered to a lesser degree. Liz Trussprovedto

be  an  efficient  and  energetic  tradesecre­

tary.  As  foreign  secretary,  shehasbeena

Thatcher­like  hawk,  mixing  photo­opsin

tanks with an aggressive, nowvindicated,

position  on  Russia.  Jeremy  Hunt,thefor­

mer  foreign  secretary,  is  highlyregarded

within  the  party.  But  both  havedoubters.

Ms Truss splits opinion amongthosewho

have  worked  with  her.  Ten  yearsagoMr

Hunt  had  a  reputation  as  a  slightlypecu­

liar, if pleasant, cabinet minister.Thefact

that  he  has  become  the  party’swiseelder

suggests in part how few untarnishedmps

it now contains.  

Don’t just do something, sit there

While  no  one  moves  against  MrJohnson,

little  moves  in  government.  Inthe1980s

the  party  launched  an  economicrevolu­

tion  that  changed  Britain  for  good.Those

who  wait  for  similarly  sweepinglegisla­

tion will do so for a long time. Trivialmea­

sures  such  as  privatising  Channel 4, a

broadcaster, are advanced; boldonessuch

as changing planning laws are ditched.

Mr  Johnson  is  accused  of misleading

Parliament. Such an offence is supposedto

be a resigning matter. Little holdsbackthe

executive  other  than  Parliament and a

prime  minister’s  own  sense  ofrestraint.

For  all  that  successive  governmentshave

attempted  to  codify  the  constitution,the

country still runs on the “goodchap”theo­

ry.  But  the  prime  minister  hasneverpre­

tended to be a good chap. ThattheConser­

vative Party saw fit to place himinthejobis

an indictment of the party ratherthanhim.

Those  expecting  Mr  Johnsontoresign

will be disappointed. If he werethetypeof

person  to  resign  over  attendinganillegal

party in a pandemic, he wouldnothaveat­

tended  an  illegal  party  in  a  pandemic.If

Conservative  mps  want  Mr  Johnsongone,

they will have to move againsthim.Butif

they  wanted  him  gone,  theyhadreason

enough to move months ago. Instead,they

appear doomed to copy EstragonandVlad­

imir  at  the  end  of  Beckett’s  play.“Well,”

says  Estragon.  “Shall  we  go?”  Vladimirre­

plies:  “Yes,  let’s  go.”  The  finalwordsarea

stage direction: They do not move.n

Prisons

Victorian values

O

n april 7th Harborough District

CouncilinLeicestershirerefusedplan­

ning permission for a new prison  that

wouldhavehoused1,700inmates.Buck­

inghamshireCountyCouncilandChorley

inLancashirehaveinthepastfewmonths

voteddownrequestsfromtheMinistry of

Justicetobuildnewprisons.It wouldseem

asthoughBritonsdonotwantprisons  in

theirbackyards.Butthingsarenotquite

thatsimple.

Violent crime in Englandand Wales

peaked in 1995 according to the British

CrimeSurvey,thebestguidetothetrue lev­

elofoffending.Buttheadultprisonpopu­

lationhasrisen.Some80,000people  are

insidetoday—afigurethatisexpected  to

riseto98,500by 2026 thankstostiffer sen­

tencing,a riseinthenumberofpolice offi­

cersanda pushtoclearthebacklogin the

courtsthatwascausedpartlybycovid­19. 

Manyofthe prisonsin England  and

Walesareoldandinadequate—themainte­

nancebacklogisestimatedtoamount  to

£1bn ($1.3bn). A recent inspection  of

Wandsworth, aVictorianedificeinLon­

don,describeditas a“crumbling,over­

crowded, vermin­infested prison”, with

someareasinhabitedbymice,ratsand pi­

geons. The MinistryofJusticewants  to

buildsixnewonesbytheendof2026, in­

cluding a prison called Five Wells  that

openedearlierthisyear.

Theeasiestwaytodothatistobuild on

landthegovernmentalreadyowns.Find­

ingandgettingplanningconsenton  new

property is expensive and slow, says Julian

Le  Vay,  a  former  finance  director  for  the

Prison Service. Former industrial sites are

ideal—in 2017 a prison opened near Wrex­

ham in north Wales on the site of a former

tyre factory. The next best thing is property

adjacent  to  existing  prisons,  since  a  place

that already has a prison might be amena­

ble to another one. 

The proposed prisons in Leicestershire,

Buckinghamshire and Lancashire are next

to  smaller  existing  ones.  They  were  op­

posed anyway. (The Ministry of Justice will

appeal against the Lancashire prison deci­

sion. It has not said if it will appeal against

the  others.)  Locals  argue  that  prisons  in­

crease  car  traffic  and  drain  local  govern­

ment  resources.  In  Buckinghamshire,

planners cited the threat to butterflies. 

But  closing  prisons  is  also  unpopular,

largely because so many local people work

in  them.  A  plan  to  shut  the  19th­century

Dartmoor  Prison  (pictured)  has  been

dropped  after  objections,  including  from

the  local  mp.  In  2012  the  government

closed  Wellingborough  Prison,  drawing

criticism  from  the  local  mp,  Peter  Bone,

who called the decision “disgraceful”. Five

Wells prison opened on that site. 

The  tug­of­war  over  opening  and  clos­

ing prisons often omits a crucial question:

what would be best for prisoners and soci­

ety as a whole? A study published in 2016 in

the British Journal of Criminologyfound that

visits from parents made incarcerated men

less  likely  to  reoffend  upon  release.  The

Ministry of Justice itself found that prison­

ers who did not receive family visits were

39% more likely to reoffend. That suggests

prisons  ought  to  be  built  in  or  near  large

population  centres.  A  prison  might  pro­

vide  jobs  for  a  struggling  town;  it  may  or

may  not  disturb  local  butterflies.  But  if

prisoners’ families cannot reach themeas­

ily,  the  prison  population  could  wellcon­

tinue growing as people cycle in and out.n

Britons don’t want to open new

prisons or close old ones

At least the views are good