Boris Johnson in India: Questions about partygate followed the UK Prime Minister to Gujarat and back

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was on a two-day India visit from April 21-22, 2022. (Image credit: @narendramodi/Twitter)

The return of the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to London after a two-day visit to India has brought him back into the throes of a political slugfest. The pernicious fallout of the partygate scandal seems to have a longer shelf life than he might have hoped. Johnson famously survived Covid, but it is unclear whether the same can be said of partygate.

Yet partygate itself is a by-product of Covid. For if there was no Covid, there would have been no restrictions, and Johnson would not be facing the ignominy of becoming the first prime minister to be referred to the privileges committee to investigate whether he deliberately misled Parliament in repeatedly denying that Covid laws were broken in Downing Street.

On Wednesday when he flew to Gujarat, the equation of more journalists and less captains of industry was not the ideal balance for mandarins in New Delhi, who would have preferred it the other way round. Some clues for that dis-balance came from British news studios. Anchors and journalists were questioning ministers why Johnson was eager for a trade deal with India, despite her failing to come out strongly against Russia. This writer too appeared on a flagship morning news show, largely to decode why New Delhi wasn’t doing more to corner Russia. Clearly, public perception in Britain and India over the Ukraine war is not the same.

For the British journalists travelling with Johnson, the India trip afforded convenient access to hurl partygate questions at him. On the very first morning, Johnson unwittingly dug himself into a controversy by inaugurating a JCB factory making the same machines that were used to demolish homes in Delhi despite a stay order by the Supreme Court. JCB’s owner Lord Bamford is a long-term Tory supporter so the inauguration of a factory manufacturing a UK brand sat very well with Brexit Britain. Any change in the itinerary would have been equally controversial. Thus the visit for a trade deal was already sullied by unforeseen circumstances.

At Westminster, meanwhile, the Speaker announced that members of Parliament (MPs) would be allowed to refer to Johnson as a ‘liar’ while discussing the allegations on whether he misled the House. In normal circumstances, using the word ‘liar’ is not allowed as it is considered unparliamentary. In a smart move, under instructions from Johnson, Tory whips decided to not table the amendment seeking to delay the vote on referral to the Privilege Committee. It will happen now, but without an opportunity of an early formal display of disapproval by Tory MPs which would have happened if the amendment was to go ahead.

Boris Johnson has played a key role in the Tory party since the time he was elected London’s mayor. But in the cutthroat world of Westminster politics, today’s position is no guarantee of a stable tomorrow. That has proved to be equally true for Rishi Sunak, once a strong contender to replace Johnson but now himself in a firefighting mode. Johnson has now said that in the highly anticipated cabinet reshuffle, Sunak will stay.

Although Boris Johnson was careful to say that he was the first Tory Prime Minister to visit the state of Gujarat, in several media reports he was described to be the first British Prime Minister to visit the state of Mahatma Gandhi. It was actually the Labour leader James Callaghan who included Gujarat in his six-day visit to India in January 1979, when Morarji Desai was leading the Janata government.

A decade before that - 20 February 1969, to be precise - Callaghan was the home secretary in Harold Wilson’s government and was present at Downing Street when the foreign secretary Michael Stewart told the Cabinet: “In the recent elections in India, the Congress party has suffered a setback in four states. In West Bengal, the communist-dominated Front has won a landslide victory. The elections would increase the central government’s difficulties in achieving working relationships with the state government, and although no convincing alternative to Congress as a national government had yet emerged, there was some doubt about its prospects in the 1972 elections. If as a result of present developments democracy in India were to fall into disrepute, the consequences would be serious.”

Six years later, Indira Gandhi declared Emergency in June 1975, which ultimately culminated in her losing power when elections were held in March 1977. When Callaghan came on his India visit, Indira Gandhi had been out of power for over 20 months. Surprisingly in his address to the Parliament, he hinted (without taking her name) that it was Indira Gandhi who by calling the elections had led to the installation of a democratically elected government! This statement made in the presence of Desai, George Fernandes, Atal Bihari Vajpayee - all of whom were made political prisoners during the Emergency - took everyone by surprise.

But the sting from this uncharacteristic praise was diluted a bit as Callaghan trumpeted the BBC, which was banned by Indira Gandhi at the very start of the Emergency. When most newspapers in India had caved in (with few exceptions), the BBC bulletins - with its unbiased reporting - were a highly sought after commodity. Nevertheless, Callaghan’s regime managed to strike a £1 billion deal with India for the manufacture of 40 Jaguar deep penetration strike aircraft, to be followed by an additional 110 to be manufactured under licence in India.

For the Boris Johnson administration, India represents a key market to showcase Brexit Britain means business. Trade, healthcare, green financing, defence production and improved visa regimes offer huge potential. Unlike Callaghan, Johnson has been very guarded and measured in his interactions. An ambitious deadline of signing the free trade deal by the end of the year has been set up, topped up by the mention of Sachin Tendulkar, Amitabh Bachchan and Narendra, with a rather friendly intonation.

Within four months of his India visit, Callaghan lost his prime ministership; Johnson faces the very same possibility.