One of the main risks of wheeling Boris out this week was that he was never just going to be asked about this election in interviews. The Mayor and candidate for Uxbridge ended up saying ‘in the dim and distant future, it would be a wonderful thing to be thought to be in a position to be considered for such an honour’ when asked about becoming Tory leader. He knows as well as anyone else that the way this campaign is going, that this ‘wonderful thing’ might get underway within a month, or indeed in the more distant future.
His allies in Parliament have been very careful to refrain from courting support during the campaign. Their mantra has long been ‘low key and loyal’. And even though Johnson was holding friendly dinners to get to know Tory MPs better, the guest list was carefully selected.
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