Theranos Inc. and Elizabeth Holmes: two names a million miles away from UK politics, and yet…

The post-trial soul-searching analysis of the failed $9.6bn Californian company and its now convicted founder/CEO, holds timely lessons not only for Westminster, but all political parties and the entire UK electorate.

The epic 10-year Theranos saga was prime example of the ‘rush for riches’ ethos epitomised by the “Fake it ‘til you make it” school of start-up innovators. The saga is not yet over. The CEO will not be sentenced for her fraud until next September, after the trial of her company’s president.

The fall-out includes great personal losses – sad stories of lifesavings lost, careers wrecked, and reputations tarnished – and a massive crash of trust in good governance. The trial exposed the lies, the cover-ups, attempted suppression of whistle-blowers, and the failings of ‘due diligence’ processes. Small grains of truth, mixed with large doses of wishful thinking, topped with confident presentational skills and few questions – a recipe for a fraudulent money-making machine.

Trashing trust is relatively easy, but its restoration is a major undertaking – and for some it will be impossible. The unavoidable truth is that trust trashing is a deeply embedded consequence of unmoderated capitalist economics. The pursuit of growth is described by Kate Raworth as, “The end that never ends”.

But now, we can glimpse the end – the catastrophic collapse of our life-sustaining climate, but, more immediately, the collapse of a government built on very small grains of truth, massive doses of wishful thinking, laced with presentational panache, baked in an unregulated oven, served without even the merest hint of embarrassment – a false prospectus leaving voters gutted.

* David Brunnen is media liaison officer for Fareham Liberal Democrats. He writes on Municipal Autonomy, Intelligent Communities, Sustainability & Digital Challenges.