A newspaper that styles itself as a bastion of middle England morality should have been the first to ask hard questions of a doomed leader
After Boris Johnson was elected to “get Brexit done” with a huge 80-seat majority, the rightwing press backed their man through scandals over Covid, NHS contracts, sleaze, Partygate and more, rebuking the naysayers in the party and beyond. The Daily Mail was particularly defensive, turning its fury on “a narcissistic rabble of Tory MPs trying to topple a PM who’s leading us out of Covid” when the first rumblings over Downing Street parties prompted an outburst in parliament from David Davis in January.
By the time of the humiliating collapse of Johnson’s leadership this week, the support of the other papers had dried up. As far back as February, the Telegraph reported the scathing attack on Johnson by John Major, who accused the prime minister of eroding public trust in British democracy, showing contempt for ministerial standards, damaging the UK’s international reputation and attacking civil rights.
Jane Martinson is a Guardian columnist
