THE Conservative Party falls over itself with its glut of would-be leaders. Internecine war breaks out – again – between Michael Gove and Boris Johnson. The Get Boris campaign begins. ‘Episode One: Boris drifts towards the precipice’. The MSM leaves no stone in his life unturned.
We can expect the discrediting of Boris drama to continue.
There’ll be plenty of material.
What William Hill says one day (yesterday it was Gove and Raab backed to be PM as they cut the price of both: Raab [7/2 from 5/1] and Gove [6/1 from 9/1] as Johnson ‘drifts’ from evens to 6/4), will be different the next. The other contenders and the unbelievable influx of new entrants and ‘yet to declares’ considered to be in the running (12/1 Jeremy Hunt, 14/1 Rory Stewart, 16/1 Andrea Leadsom, 22/1 Matt Hancock, 22/1 Penny Mordaunt, 25/1 Graham Brady, 25/1 Sajid Javid, 28/1 Steve Baker, 66/1 Jacob Rees-Mogg) will make sure of that. Surely the Farage-anointed Priti Patel will be entering the stakes soon – and who knows the aspirations that many Tory MPs have yet to admit out loud? ‘Hang on mate, if they can, why not me?’ That, I fear, is already the conceit working its way though numerous Conservative minds this bank holiday.
Meanwhile Mrs May carries on – as Prime Minister.
Once her rage and indignation subsides at being made to promise to resign, she’ll be laughing all the way to Brussels. Two such trips are scheduled before her rivals are meant to have sorted themselves out.
What Brexit emergency? It’s business as usual, Frau Merkel will be reassuring her – after all, Angela’s still in office having promised to step down at some indistinct date in the future. I’m sure Kim May will be quick to learn.
The prospect of perhaps not such last-minute concessions to the EU, which I predicted yesterday, remains. EU leaders will be discussing the next steps on Britain’s divorce as part of their Brussels summit on May 28. On Saturday the Express reported:
‘German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s deputy spokesman announced the bloc’s plans within an hour of Mrs May standing down. EU diplomats and officials in Brussels have pleaded with the next British prime minister to bring an end to the Brexit deadlock as soon as possible. A second EU summit, and Mrs May’s last, on June 20 – 21 is supposed to centre on breaking the Brexit deadlock, which could see the Brexit stalement shift before the next Prime Minister is decided. There is concern that Mrs May could come under huge pressure from EU leaders to make concessions, even though she will be serving in a caretaker capacity as leader of the UK. Just hours after Mrs May’s resignation speech, French President Emmanuel Macron urged “swift clarification” on Brexit.’
Peter Hitchens might not have been so wrong when he laughingly warned last week that Theresa May could still be PM in 2029.
BBC reporter and Brexitcast host Chris Mason has pointed out: ‘The speech yesterday was her tending her resignation as leader of the Tory party. Not as Prime Minister’.
‘While the cat’s away the mice will play’ takes on a new meaning. Will the Tory mice still be playing until – like a horror movie – the zombie returns to find the field cleared for her (again) as one after the other stabs first another and then themselves in the final throes of their ghastly conceits?
It couldn’t be possible? Or could it?
One person who surely is laughing is Mr Farage.
