James Forsyth James Forsyth

Boris Johnson must remember: In victory, magnanimity

With the ballot papers out, the next few days will be crucial in the Tory leadership election. As I say in The Sun this morning, it is reckoned that 60 percent of party members will have voted by Thursday.

The Boris campaign are bullish. One very senior figure in the campaign is privately predicting that they will win by a more than twenty-point margin. The Hunt campaign is adamant that this isn’t right and that the contest is tightening every day. But interestingly, even several of his Cabinet supporters aren’t trying to claim that the race is close. One tells me, ‘Let’s face it, there isn’t must doubt about what the result is going to be.’

If Boris does win, he must remember Churchill’s dictum: In victory, magnanimity. It would be tempting for him to exact vengeance on his defeated opponents.

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