It is an extremely complex story that regularly returns to the foreground: the relationship between ethics and politics, with the consequent questions. Why is the tolerance threshold for ethical violations so different from one company to another? And why do some personalities or political currents seem almost impervious to scandals?
If there is one man who is testing these limits, it is certainly Boris Johnson, the British Prime Minister. Johnson, who certainly does not have the reputation of the most ethical politician in the United Kingdom, finds himself with his back against the wall in an absolutely contemporary story: he is accused of having attended a party in the official residence of Downing street in May 2021, therefore in full lockdown and violating the rules set by his own government to counter the pandemic.
The scandal continues to spread after initial denials were contradicted by the publication of a series of private emails sent by Johnson’s personal secretary to 100 people, with an invitation that included a recommendation to “bring a bottle”. Cornered, Johnson apologized to parliament on January 12, amid demands for resignation and falling political credibility.
Different contexts
Meanwhile, another story, of a different nature, shakes Sweden, a country already famous for the resignation of a minister guilty of paying for a chocolate bar with an official credit card. This time the new Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson, criticized for having used a domestic worker without a residence permit, has ended up in the eye of the storm.
The Social Democratic leader explained that she was deceived by the service company she had turned to, but the damage has now been done. Especially since the facts clash with a speech in which Andersson had criticized the custom of looking for employees from distant countries when too many Swedes are still without a job.
The two contexts are not similar. No Briton is truly surprised by Johnson’s behavior, while puritan Swedes demand exemplary behavior from their leaders.
Each society has its habits… Staying in the European context, on the continent we have different moral frameworks and political histories, with particularities that make an ethical slip be fatal in one country and irrelevant in another. To take an extreme example, we can safely say that a person like Silvio Berlusconi, determined to resurrect his political career in Italy, would have no chance of doing so in Scandinavia.
But what is most worrying is the tolerance shown by public opinion towards political figures who, positioning themselves “outside the system”, are forgiven despite questionable personal events and accusations of corruption. It is as if the fact of opposing a system that no longer inspires confidence pushes the population to close their eyes to behaviors quite similar to those that until recently were condemned.
All this, however, highlights the need for exemplary behavior on the part of politicians. Every time this concept is expressed, however, we hear the reply that “we are not in Sweden …”. A bad culturalist argument for continuing to scoff at public morality.
(Translation by Andrea Sparacino)
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