I FEEL BETTER NOW I’VE GOT THAT OFF MY CHEST : Downing Street is said to be “coping” today after the exhaustive list of Tory MPs who resigned the party whip, after expressing complete disgust over the Johnson/Raab Afghanistan failure, was released.
The list is thought to be final and will draw a line under the calamity for the Johnson administration, which has otherwise governed supremely at home and abroad. If it hadn’t been doing such a sterling job the party of government, fiscal responsibility, family values and defence would have acted by now, wouldn’t they?
“We were actually relieved the list wasn’t longer,” a 10 Downing Street insider told LCD Views. “When you consider how angry they were in the Commons debate, it looked like curtains for Johnson and Raab. But now he may just limp on to create another completely foreseen and avoidable catastrophe. And Raab can go back to Crete in a day or two. It’s hilarious. The Mother of Parliaments, what are you like?”
And limp on Johnson will, so long as he is still perceived as a vote winner by the party of landlords and power.
“Nazarin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, Brexit, Covid, Afghanistan, what will he achieve next? It’s a good thing no one talks about the Garden Bridge, the Arcuri affair and that holiday in the Italian villa. If this stuff became public knowledge he could be in some hot water. I mean, who would allow that sort of character to govern? You’d have to be totally self-interested empty vessels.”
But even though the list is now public knowledge, it’s unlikely to change the calculations in Downing Street over how to govern.
“Clearly the Tory MPs who spoke out against Johnson yesterday are now stuffed. They can look forward to being de-selected for the 2022 General Election. None of them have the foresight to see the payback coming down the line though. Which actually makes them Cabinet material.”