Mid way through last week I was telling friends that I reckoned Boris could ride out partygate and reach the local elections. He would then run a personal campaign to pull out Tory votes in May by travelling all over England to barnstorm and bribe with his usual false promises. If the outcome was losses but not as many as predicted, it would become Boris’s victory and he would be safe.
But now things look much worse. Organised government, at least in the traditional sense of what we mean by that, has ground to a halt. There are new parties to investigate, accusations of improper threats from Tory whips, accusations of Islamophoebia, cracks in cabinet unity, multiple accusations of lying and referrals to the police. And this is not an assault by opposition parties. It is all from within Tory ranks. Discipline as a coherent party of government has completely broken down.
This certainly cannot go on. Soon it must end. But it will not end until the author of all this misfortune, Boris the Clown, is removed from office. Whether this is with dignity and nice words, or kicking and screaming, is the only real question now outstanding.