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As the U.S. and democracies worldwide face threats, Britain shows how to fight back

With democracy under siege around the world, the U.K. offers a glimmer of hope. Despite attacks from former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Britain's institutions resisted.
Britain's Boris Johnson, pictured in 2021, resigned as prime minister last year, but his policies are still felt. He resigned his seat in the House of Commons last week after receiving a draft of a report excoriating his behavior as prime minister.

By some measures, democracy has been in decline around the globe for more than a decade and a half, but there are encouraging signs in places you might not expect. One is the United Kingdom, where former Prime Minister Boris Johnson tried to chip away at checks and balances during his time in office.

The system, however, fought back, most recently in a 106-page parliamentary committee report out Thursday that said Johnson had lied to Parliament over parties that violated his government's own COVID restrictions. Johnson resigned his seat in the House of Commons last week after receiving a draft of the report. In a resignation letter that may sound familiar to Americans, the former prime minister painted himself as a victim and called the committee a "kangaroo court."

"Their purpose from the beginning has been to find me guilty, regardless of the facts," Johnson wrote.

He added: "I am not alone

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