In advanced democratic societies, the tilt to authoritarianism rarely happens overnight in some military coup d’etat with tanks on the streets and opposition politicians in jail. Instead, it proceeds by stealth, baby step by baby step, law by law, order by order.
So it was, most frighteningly, during Donald Trump’s erratic time in the White House; and so it has also been during the past few years of Conservative government, with a marked acceleration in pace since Brexit, with parliament, monarchy, broadcasters, the law courts, the civil service, teachers, universities and internationally guaranteed human rights coming under sustained attack by “the people’s government”, as the Johnson administration once styled itself.
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), which has built up a strong reputation for independence, is the latest institution to be sidelined for sordid political purposes. The OBR was created a decade ago by George Osborne to try to keep governments honest, and it now represents an impediment to Liz Truss’s reckless dogmatic tax-cutting agenda. It will thus be ignored when the time comes for her emergency Budget. As Michael Gove has suggested, nothing will be allowed to stop Ms Truss from taking the nation away with her on her long-awaited holiday from economic reality.
