Boris Johnson is preparing to fight the wrong election

The next election won’t be like the 2019 campaign. It will be far tougher for the Tories. Ministers were struck by a recent presentation by the Tory strategist Isaac Levido to the cabinet a fortnight ago, in which he stressed that the next election would be much more like 2015 than 2019. Levido’s argument was that the three key factors which led to the Conservative victory two years ago were Brexit, Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson — but the next election campaign would be a far more traditional affair. To win, as I write in the magazine this week, the Tories will have to show that they have delivered on their promises and emphasise what MPs have done for their constituencies.

Corbyn is gone. Now, Keir Starmer might not be the most impressive replacement but as Levido pointed out, his ratings are still a significant improvement on Corbyn’s.