When Boris ran to become leader of the Conservative party – and again when he campaigned in December’s general election – he was pitched by his supporters as a unifier. Boris was going to get Brexit done and then lead the country into a new era – the spats of the previous half a decade consigned to history’s dustbin. Unfortunately for Boris and indeed everyone else in Britain, that’s not the way things have worked out.
Right from the start, Johnson’s premiership has been marked by conflict. Only a few weeks in, he removed the whip from a host of Tory MPs, including the former Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond. Although many of these MPs eventually got the whip back, the tenor of the times was set. Far from being a unifier, Boris was going to be battling everyone and everything, constantly.
By my reckoning, the government is currently at war with the EU, the House of Lords, the civil service, famous footballers, the north of England, the mayor of London, sections of the Conservative party, a deadly virus, and too many others to continue to list.
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