Boris is right, this is a putsch

There was no bitterness. And the blame was issued in coded terms. Boris’s resignation speech began with a reference to his most notable achievement: the ‘incredible mandate’ he secured in 2019 and which gave the Tories their largest majority since 1987 and their biggest share of the vote since 1979. He spelled that out explicitly. And he left it hanging in the air. He outlined his main successes in office: completing Brexit, beating the pandemic, overseeing the vaccine rollout, and ‘leading the West in standing up to Putin’s aggression.’

He accepted full responsibility for the chaos of the last few days. He explained that he ‘fought so hard’ because he wanted to persuade his colleagues that it would be ‘eccentric’, (i.e. utterly bonkers), to throw away his thumping majority by changing leader. Yet he failed to win them over. Even in mid-term, he stressed, the Tories are just a handful of points behind Labour.