The Conservatives tends to choose the opposite of what they have just rejected. But don’t write off the populists
Boris Johnson’s fall is not yet a fact. But it grows more likely by the hour. The hue and cry resumed at full throttle on Wednesday morning. Then Christian Wakeford, Conservative MP for the “red wall” marginal of Bury South, who had been the regional chief of the Back Boris campaign in 2019, defected to Labour. Thirty minutes later, David Davis quoted Leo Amery (who was quoting Oliver Cromwell) telling Neville Chamberlain in 1940: “In the name of God, go.” No leader can indefinitely survive these levels of assault.
Assuming it now takes place, there are two important things to keep in mind about the 2022 Conservative leadership election. The first is that the many twists in this extraordinary story may not have all been exhausted. Experience of recent Tory leadership contests suggests that we should expect the unexpected.
