We have a government of children – and it’s turning into Lord of the Flies

‘Boys State’, a documentary about politically motivated children and how far they will go to gain an advantage, is depressingly reminiscent of the current Tory party

“[Political] parties are likely to become potent engines by which cunning, ambitious and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government.” Thus spoke George Washington, America’s first president and one of its founding fathers.

Despite what some of that country’s more misty eyed citizens believe, he wasn’t a hero. He owned slaves, remember. But he was right with that quote, as recent events in Britain, the country whose yoke he helped to shake off, clearly demonstrate.

Washington’s words appear at the start of Boys State, a 2020 cinematic documentary, which rode a wave of awards and critical acclaim to a record (for a documentary) $12m distribution deal with Apple. The latter’s streaming service is where it can now be found.

The film reports on a convention run by the American Legion in Texas for 1,000 or so teenage boys – “political nerds” who are split into two groups and told to form political parties. They then create platforms, run primaries and compete with the other party for various offices you might find in a typical state government.

Boys State does offer the viewer some crumbs of comfort – softly spoken Steven Garza is one – but otherwise it’s exactly what you might expect to see if you put a bunch of whooping, mostly white, mostly privileged teenage boys together. Sometimes it looks and sounds like the Maga youth movement: “We need to dominate them!”

The would-be politicos quickly adopt low-down, dirty tactics with the aim of doing just that. They cheerfully sacrifice anything resembling principle, up to and including torching their own beliefs, in favour of what they imagine will play best with the crowd. It’s politics as Lord of the Flies.

But of course, they’re kids. Teenagers. Amped up. Ambitious. Keen to impress. They also have the capacity to learn from their experience, and to grow. But they won’t be able to do that through watching some of their elders, and certainly not those on this side of the pond.

As I watched Boys State, I was left thinking, yikes, this is the British government. This is behind the scenes at the Conservative Party. Sure, you don’t get the gun love here. And you don’t (quite) hear the brutality masquerading as “pro-life” that the documentary depicts in its darkest moments.

But the lack of anything resembling guiding principle, or integrity, or vision, or purpose beyond obtaining and clinging onto power? Well, we’ve got it all in Westminster. Except here in the UK it isn’t a mock-up or a teaching exercise. Here it is horribly real.

There is the occasional hopeful sign served up by Boys State, the odd moment of self-awareness from the participants in conversation after their indulgence in gutter tactics has been screened – where is that from Boris Johnson and the British government?

The Gray report – or at least the snippet of it we have been allowed to see – makes it abundantly clear that Downing Street turned into an Animal House during lockdown, a paradise for boozy frat boys, while ordinary Britons missed the funerals of loved ones and were barred from visiting the terminally ill. People died in their thousands.

What I find particularly troubling is that we’re becoming desensitised to it. Every time there’s an outrage it becomes more and more normal. It sometimes feels as if you need to be a Where’s Wally champion to find the occasional Steven Garza on the Tory benches. Remember, just one ministerial bag carrier was moved to walk away from a government which is both dishonest and staggeringly unprofessional. A black mark on the CV of anyone serving in it.

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That’s why Boys State was so disturbing to me: it is what we now have and in the raw.

No private sector organisation would tolerate the sort of behaviour indulged in at the top of the British government. CEOs are hard to dislodge, too, but a Boris Johnson type would have been booted out by the board. Instead, we’re promised a shake-up, as if the man in charge of the madhouse wasn’t in charge at all. A cull of scapegoats so the Big Dog can continuing crapping on the flower beds in the Downing Street garden.

I suppose it’s possible to foresee a more professional operation, but one that’s less mendacious, less cynical, less corrupt, less cruel. It’s doubtful, though.

Johnson would drag the country further into the pit in a heartbeat if he felt it was in his interests to do so. Every time it appears the bottom has been reached, he finds a new one. Welcome to government by Boys State. Washington was right.