Robert Peston Robert Peston

Boris Johnson’s secret superpowers

David Davis gave away Boris Johnson’s big secret, live on the Today Programme: the Tory MP set to be our new prime minister has superpowers.

The point is that the former Brexit secretary says he is wholly persuaded that Johnson will take the UK out of the EU, deal or no deal, by 31 October – while also conceding that Johnson has given absolutely no detail on how that can be achieved, against the implacable opposition of a majority of MPs to a no-deal Brexit, and the equally implacable opposition of EU leaders to changing the Brexit withdrawal agreement to meet the concerns of Brexiters like Johnson.

I am only half joking about his superpowers. It was not me who invented this conceit, but close members of his team, who have confided in me that pretty much the whole reason he is getting so much support from Tory MPs is their extraordinary faith that he can break the country-wrecking Brexit deadlock by the sheer force of his personality.

The point is that the Tory party is so terrified of how the combination of the Brexit impasse and the Nigel Farage threat is eviscerating their electoral prospects that it is suspending reason and going for blind faith in a bicycling, shirt-tail flapping, putative comic-book hero.

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Robert Peston
Written by
Robert Peston
Robert Peston is Political Editor of ITV News and host of the weekly political discussion show Peston. His articles originally appeared on his ITV News blog.

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