It is often said that there are few convinced ‘Boris-ites’ to be found among the ranks of Conservative MPs and that this lack of a praetorian guard of diehard supporters is a major weakness for the Prime Minister.
But a much bigger weakness is the rapid ebbing away of the ranks of Boris-ites among the public at large.
Last spring, when the progressive establishment thought it had the Prime Minister bang to rights over the refurbishment of his Downing Street flat, he sailed through the controversy and on to excellent results in the big round of elections at the start of May.
Out in the country many voters believed that the attacks on Johnson were being coordinated by a Remainer elite still furious with him for implementing what it viewed as the hardest conceivable Brexit. So the Leave electorate that had delivered him a landslide election win in December 2019 stood by him and ignored the furore over curtains and wallpaper.
Instead of taking on the liberal establishment, the PM has spent months courting it to almost zero benefit
A little more than six months later this has ceased to be the case.
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