Party chair’s decision to quit over byelection losses leaves him handily placed if Boris Johnson is deposed
Oliver Dowden is such a consummate Conservative insider and fixer that it might feel almost paradoxical he has become the first Boris Johnson-era minister to step above the parapet and resign as a consequence of the government’s recent woes.
More on brand was the fact that Dowden, in his letter to Johnson stepping down as Tory party chair, insisted that poor local election results, capped by a disastrous double byelection loss on Thursday, made his position untenable.
