The Guardian view on the end of a parliament: five years in which Britain’s leaders showed they were not up to the job | Editorial

Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak have all provided object lessons in how not to govern wisely or well

And so, at last and unlamented, the 2019 parliament will finally be laid to rest on Friday. This parliament's prorogation is not shamelessly illegal, as BorisJohnson's lawless attempt to end its predecessorwas five years ago. But that is just about all that can be said in its favour. In almost every respect, this hasbeen as shoddy and as discreditable a period as British government has had to endure. Therecan rarely have been a parliament that comes to its end as unmourned as this one.

Yet the 2019 parliament is dying as it lived, amid needless chaos and with political desperation once again taking precedence over legislative substance. Rishi Sunak's gamble on a July election means that most of the government's programme, which was announced in the king's speech in November, will now never reach the statute book at all. This underscores a very troubling truth: that modern government is becoming more performative than effective, with MPs increasingly expected to campaign rather than to scrutinise or legislate.

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