In the end, Boris Johnson has proved to be Theresa May’s unassailable nemesis (if that’s not a tautology); he is the agent of her downfall. Which is not to say he will succeed her as Tory leader and prime minister. He may be the favourite to do so, but – as Sunder Katwala has pointed out – only once in the past half century has the initial frontrunner actually seized the Tory crown. Boris could yet blow it.
But his manoeuvres with his backbench colleagues have made it impossible for the PM to have her Brexit plan approved – were she to put her Withdrawal Agreement Bill to a vote, as she still promises to do – because he has persuaded them there is an escape from the Brexit deadlock that is destroying their party but not while she is in 10 Downing Street.
This view that Boris Johnson has done for Theresa May is not confined to the Brexiter ultras of the ERG.
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