What a strange one Tory and British drama it is. Boris Johnsonwithout a doubt the most extraordinary politician of his generation, has the qualities to be a truly great prime minister.
But with the seeping of letters from Conservative MPs – ministers and backbenchers alike – openly expressing an irreparable loss of confidence that he would become a tidal wave, the clock seemed inexorably ticking on its time in Downing Street†
Yet Mr Johnson is nothing but a fighter. He clings to number 10 with everything he has.
Having shaken Britain for the better, he will not give up power lightly, arguing that he has a direct mandate of 14 million voters.
Even a cabinet delegation urging him to quit was fired with a flea in his ear (and a P45 in Michael Gove’s hand). Instead, the prime minister is digging in, developing an economic policy for tax cuts with new chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, and promising to deliver to families struggling with rising bills.
With the chaos engulfing him, is this the miracle that can save the master escapologist?
Boris Johnson is nothing but a fighter. He clings to No10 with everything he’s got’
His demise would not only be a personal catastrophe, it would have a disastrous effect on the entire country.
With his signature optimism and buccaneer spirit, Mr Johnson set forth a One Nation vision to transform Britain’s fortunes.
What does it say about the feverish, politically insane place Britain has become in 2022, where a booming majority leader is the victim of a putsch from within?
And likewise, how absurd that the holder of the highest office in the country should risk being overthrown by events that are essentially trivial compared to the seismic forces currently rocking the world?
Yes, the Prime Minister has made mistakes, misjudgments and transgressions. But let’s face it, they’ve barely been to Watergate.
This sad episode has all the hallmarks of one of Mr Johnson’s beloved classic Greek tragedies.
In that dramatic form, the hero always means well and the play usually begins with a series of successes. But because of flaws in his own character, he is eventually overthrown – often by those he once considered friends.
There are clear echoes of this in Mr Johnson’s betrayal. But there is one crucial difference.
‘In a teen-curly pompous piece of attention-seeking, Sajid Javid sought to mirror Geoffrey Howe’s devastating resignation in 1990 that helped overthrow Margaret Thatcher’
Rather than result in catharsis, this drama is almost guaranteed to end in bitter tears of bitterness and reproach.
One of the ‘friends’ who tried to deliver the fatal blow was, of course, former Health Minister Sajid Javid.
In a teen-curly pompous piece of attention-seeking, he attempted to mirror Geoffrey Howe’s devastating resignation in 1990 that helped overthrow Margaret Thatcher.
Javid’s morale horse was so elevated that he must have suffered from vertigo.
In reality, this was a transparent bid to portray himself as a candidate for leadership – a squeaky clean alternative to a compromised prime minister.
It was a sickening hypocrisy from a man who so clearly wears his ambition on his sleeve.
In his speech he insisted, “I am not one of the quitters of life.”
Pull the other one, Mr. Javid! Twice he has stepped out of a cabinet post in a sigh – this time, disgracefully, as the post-Covid NHS waiting lists hit record levels.
And speaking of dereliction of duty, what kind of chancellor was his fellow cabinet conspirator Rishi Sunak to effectively take down tools during the worst cost of living crisis in a generation?
The truth is that Mr. Johnson is head and shoulders above almost all of his potential killers.
‘The last straw was caught shaming disgraced ex-Tory Chris Pincher (pictured right, with Johnson) the drunken party whip with an uncanny penchant for supposedly groping young men’
Compared to the mountains he has climbed, their combined achievements are little more than molehills.
Just 31 months ago, he delivered their biggest landslide to Conservatives in three decades after convincing millions of traditional Labor voters that he was their man.
In doing so, he overcame Corbynism – saving the country from mutating into a nightmarish socialist dystopia. Then, despite opposition from almost the entire Remain-dominated British establishment, Mr Johnson fulfilled the express will of the British people by bringing about Brexit.
As if that wasn’t enough, he triumphantly led the country through the worst pandemic in a century – despite dying damn near death from Covid. And liberated from the sclerotic EU, the Prime Minister devised our own world-breaking jabs program, allowing us to be the first in the world to lift the lockdown and rekindle our economy.
There is, of course, a lot of red ink in the deficit column of Mr Johnson’s political ledger.
His hesitation in saving Covid lothario Matt Hancock from the bag. The Owen Paterson Debacle. Allegations that he misled his own standards advisor about ‘Wallpapergate’.
And while Johnson’s own £50 fine for breaking lockdown laws (a colleague brought him a birthday cake that never came out of the Tupperware box) seemed harsh, the indulgence of drunken revelry in No. 10, while the rest of the country even dying did not comfort loved ones was very regrettable.
“If the Tory MPs succeed in removing Boris, what happens? Who would they replace Mr Johnson with? Could the successor defeat Sir Keir Starmer?’
The last straw was caught posing as disgraced ex-Tory Chris Pincher, the drunken party whip with an uncanny penchant for supposedly groping young men. What a filthy hill to die on!
The truth is that many of these issues would not have blown up if Mr Johnson had been honest in the first place and hadn’t tried to cover them up.
After Partygate, the Prime Minister promised to wake up No10 to prevent them from inflicting further wounds on themselves. Yet clearly no lessons have been learned.
Of course, nobody voted for Boris because they thought he was an example of holy sincerity.
Yet one of the great mysteries of the cosmos is that someone so intelligent can end up in the same mistakes over and over again. One of the reasons is the failure to set up a functioning structure around him to exert control and discipline over the party and Downing Street. Throw in its own lack of attention to detail, and it’s a recipe for disaster.
These scandals have undoubtedly damaged the Tories. Hammerings in four recent midterm elections bear witness to this.
Now hordes of Conservative MPs have lost patience. With so many stepping down as ministers or demanding Mr Johnson’s resignation, it’s hard to see how he can form a working government.
In many ways, Mr. Johnson has a right to feel attacked. For years he was spied on by Remainers who desperately wanted to drag us into the orbit of the EU.
Sky, ITN and the BBC have become less impartial observers of events than political activists determined to do their part to overthrow a democratically elected prime minister. And they are aided by the ‘Blob’ bureaucracy, who despise Mr. Johnson almost as much as she does.
But amid a painful cost of living crisis, war in Europe and a migration crisis (and with the Tories only a handful of points behind Labor in the medium term), now is no time for the party to be paralyzed by fighting .
If the Tory MPs manage to remove Boris, what happens? Who would they replace Mr Johnson with? Could the successor be able to beat Sir Keir Starmer?
And are they sure they’re not just accidentally jeopardizing the party’s chances of winning the next election – and letting in a Labour-led coalition of chaos?
That would see the UK catastrophically chained to a runaway train of devastating economy, votes for 16-year-olds, the Union’s demise and the wake train of gender politics.
Whoever the Tory leader is, they must champion authentically conservative policies – tax cuts, free market ventures, leveraging the benefits of Brexit to create an agile modern economy and strong borders – to defeat the lead-footed Starmer.
This isn’t just a psychodrama about Mr Johnson. It’s an existential crisis for the Tories. It is no exaggeration to say that the future of the country is at stake.