GLOBAL leaders seem to have it very hard these days, most especially soon-to-be ex-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. He was forced to resign as leader of his party, after a Cabinet coup, thereby giving up the reins of leadership last week and paving the way for a new prime minister in the coming weeks.
In Sri Lanka, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Monday confirmed he will resign after thousands of protesters stormed his official residence on Saturday amid an ever-worsening economic crisis in that country.
And former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, a much-loved and well-respected leader both inside and outside of that country, was assassinated on Friday while at a campaign meeting. It was a murder that rightly drew condemnation from around the world.
These events have wildly different causes and implications, many of which are substantial, but Mr Johnson's announcement of his intention to resign suggests the global political order might be at a crossroads.
Mr Johnson is departing No. 10 Downing Street not out of some noble imperative or sudden realisation of a moral obligation to go. Rather, he has been forced out by the very party that gave him a pathway to power.
That the British prime minister's tenure was doomed after just three years was made plain in June with the dramatic staging of a vote of no-confidence in which 148 of his own MPs voted against him. Although he survived that vote, it was a result that badly damaged what little standing Johnson had as premier.
While the British PM's standing was badly diminished by the 'partygate' scandal, in the end it was his claim of ignorance in relation to sexual harassment allegations against the deputy chief whip, whom Mr Johnson had appointed and then promoted, which was the straw that broke the camel's back.
In addition to partygate, for which he made history by becoming the first sitting British prime minister found to have broken the law, Mr Johnson gleefully courted accusations of breaking international law through a range of alarming measures such as a controversial plan to fly refugees to Rwanda, a plan to ignore protocols relating to Northern Ireland, and to even repeal human rights laws that incorporated international treaties.
Mr Johnson's departure thus has important global implications. It could very well affect the direction of Europe amid the Russia-Ukraine crisis, as well as thousands of members of the TT diaspora working and living in the UK at this delicate moment. It could also signal the end of a certain brand of politics, a brand built not on principle but rather on the cult of personality.
Many of our local politicians, including those on both sides of the red and yellow divide, seem to operate on the notion that their elevation to public office and power is a God-given right, based on their general conduct and words.
They would do well to pay attention to what has been happening in the global political arena including in the UK.
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