A Tory implosion

What is the purpose of a Conservative government? It’s a reasonable question for voters to ask. In 2019 Boris Johnson gave us a clear answer: he was a different type of politician. He would get Brexit done, then protect the public from the rising costs of government by freezing taxes. The public, he said, had had enough of weasel words and broken politics. He stood as an unconventional prime minister who would sweep away Westminster’s failing conventions.

Instead, he is in danger of sweeping away the conventions that actually worked. The country is now being deprived of a functional government: one that is capable of planning longer than a fortnight ahead. For Johnson, survival is victory. And to survive, he makes promises which he cannot keep – or, in the case of steel tariffs, should not keep. Basic standards – honesty, consistency, competence, transparency – are being jettisoned to save his skin.

Still, some facts remain. Johnson won a massive democratic mandate just over two years ago – and that mandate was for a five-year term. How many of the MPs now conspiring to depose him would even be in parliament were it not for him? Who else in the cabinet could have vanquished Corbynism and turned a Tory collapse into a Tory landslide in such a short space of time? Who else would have won over so many voters in northern England? A mandate conferred by millions of voters should not be overturned casually by a cabinet plot.

Where are the better ideas? One of the most depressing aspects of this drama is how even now Johnson absorbs all the oxygen of the political debate. He is all that anyone in Westminster can talk about. So much so that people forget they are looking at a choice: if he leaves No.