Pupil absence is soaring. Long-term sickness is hammering the workforce. Yet some senior Tories expend all their energy on defending Boris Johnson
Of all the factions and cliques in and around the modern Conservative party, none is grimmer than the small gang who think that Boris Johnson is the victim of conspiracies involving the fabled “blob”, and that the condition of their party – and, indeed, the country – would be a thousand times better if only he was still in Downing Street.
Even now, a hardcore of Johnson cultists still reportedly think he could sooner or later return to the Tory leadership. A few of his other disciples acknowledge – for now, at least – that such dreams are probably over, but still devotedly try to defend him. The latest nadir was reached last week, after news broke of his referral to the police by civil servants in relation to even more alleged breaches of Covid regulations.
John Harris is a Guardian columnist
