Boris Johnson's regime is ushering in a new age of kleptocracy in UK – Kenny MacAskill MP

Boris Johnson’s regime is more and more akin to a kleptocracy, elected not to improve the nation but instead enhance the wealth and privilege of its members and its core of powerful supporters.

The abuse evident in the unwillingness of so many Cabinet members to declare whether they’ve non-domiciled status.

A simple question you might think in a party where grandees in years gone by often epitomised noblesse oblige. Not this lot, where it’s contracts for friends and self-enrichment for themselves.

But they’re getting away with it and this British distortion of democracy allows it. The absence of a written constitution and power entrenched in an executive likewise fuel it.

Boris Johnson is presiding over a distortion of British democracy (Picture: Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images)

Partygate has showed the failure of a system where there’s few checks and balances and little opportunity to challenge wrongdoing in office.

In most walks of life and especially in democratic societies breaking the law is a no-no. Out would go the minister, impeached or otherwise hounded from office. A bowling club, let alone a PLC, would see those in office forced out and a failure to quit would result in an immediate challenge.

Instead, the system’s being manipulated. It’s not random chance that saw the news break when parliaments was in recess. The Metropolitan Police are a highly political service as evidenced by this. Many a celebrity, let alone a punter, would have welcomed an optimum time to be punished or fined, but instead unparalleled latitude was given here.

Similarly, having pulled a favour from an institution that should know better, Johnson then abuses the parliamentary system by ducking out of an immediate calling to account.

Hiding behind a broad statement isn't parliamentary accountability. Jetting off to India’s an evasion of his duty to be open to scrutiny in parliament, nothing to do with boosting the economy.

This kleptocracy is hollowing out our democracy. Valiant efforts to roll back their excesses in the House of Lords or hold them to account in the Supreme Court are proving totally insufficient. The system was flawed from the start but is now being abused from within.

The UK is a democracy but it’s a distortion of what’s meant to be.

Kenny MacAskill is Alba Party MP for East Lothian