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3 Tips for Promoting From Within
A weakened prime minister remains for now – but the odds are shortening on his departure
A weakened Boris Johnson probably suits the majority of MPs at Westminster. Unfortunately for the Conservative party, those with the most to gain sit on the benches opposite. Few voters know exactly what Labour and the Liberal Democrats stand for, but both parties think that many more Tory seats will be vulnerable at the next general election if Mr Johnson remains in post. This is a reasonable belief. The government is out of ideas and exhausted. Tory despair is compounded by Mr Johnson presiding over an openly divided party.
On Monday night, more than four out of 10 of his colleagues said that Mr Johnson should go. That rebels could be found from all wings of the party, rather than in one organised faction, is an indication of how far the rot has spread. Conservative MPs would no doubt keep Mr Johnson if he helped them keep their jobs. The trouble is that opinion polls show that Mr Johnson is neither popular nor trusted – even among Tory voters. The governing party is right to fear electoral retribution, one likely to materialise this month in two byelections where scandal-hit Tory MPs stepped down.
