Boris Johnson’s final act as prime minister will be to rig the next election, it seems. Or, at least, to try to. As openDemocracy reported last week, the last kick of his boot as he walks out of the Downing Street door will be to the balls of the Electoral Commission.
Already limping from a lack of funding and ludicrously low maximum fines, the regulator charged with defending the UK’s democratic process – which had a word or two to say about both Johnson’s 2019 election campaign and the pro-Brexit movement in which he played a prominent role – will be told that it should charge fines only as a last resort.
Instead, if a party takes a cricket bat to the laws of our democracy (rules intended to stop the rich from buying elections), the umpire will now have to politely ‘request improvements’ before taking matters further.
