Reopening of schools: The ‘moral economy’ of Boris Johnson. A brief reprise
Boris Johnson has written an article for the Mail on Sunday about the need for schools to re-open in September. Unlike some of his efforts for the right-wing media it is free to access and if you have an interest in the matter it may be worth a hopefully rare Google of the Mail website. At least then you’ll be able to see what Johnson actually wrote rather than the spin put on it.
As most will know Johnson is a political chameleon quite capable of holding contradictory position according to which way the wind is blowing, but always ultimately with the aim of boosting himself.
Johnson’s actual phrase is not that there is a ‘moral duty’ to re-open schools but that social justice demands it.
Its not really a term one associates with Johnsonism. He underlines the importance of compulsory schooling, notes that the less well off are harder hit by not attending school and that this harms their life chances later on. Who could disagree (well Johnson himself at most other times for a start).
The reality is though that Johnson has played what might be called the ‘moral economy’ card before.
In a pre-2015 Election interview with the London Evening Standard Boris Johnson, then still London Mayor and Tory candidate for Uxbridge (subsequently MP), spoke of his view of a ‘moral capitalism’.
The moral economy here is a conservative traditional culture, sometimes enforced by radical means including on occasion, riot. It involved a recognition not that society was equal or should be so but that the poor were entitled at least to a basic standard of living.
Johnson’s interview with the Standard had some of this understanding.
He argued that wealth creation by capitalists, whatever their intention, is the thing that helps to fund public services. He also said of those self-same capitalists that since they were making good profits they could afford to pay the London Living Wage and not expect the wages of their employees to be topped up by the taxpayer.
Johnson argued that there is a ‘moral purpose to wealth creation’. Adam Smith might have grudgingly conceded the point, the eighteenth-century crowd (who Johnson would probably call the mob) would certainly have agreed.
Despite his claim that London was a less unequal City because of his Mayoralty this was not backed by evidence. His support for the London Living Wage was not for example matched by any actual action to get more employers to pay it.
Then came the £350million NHS Brexit lie. An attempt if there ever was one to pervert the idea of a moral economy in favour of a market politics.
Now it’s the turn of schools.
He makes a ‘progressive’ case for re-opening and writes of various ways this will happen. Absent of course is any mention of things like social distancing, masks or even hand washing.
As always with Johnson the bluster fits the moment.
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