Boris’s Tory enemies don’t know how lucky they are

It is often said that most Conservative MPs have a highly ‘transactional’ relationship with Boris Johnson.

The inference is that in an ideal world they would not choose to be led by someone they regard as having far too many foibles and shortcomings and will only tolerate him being PM while he continues to be a winner.

The Times political commentator Rachel Sylvester set this out fluently during an appearance on Channel 4 News at the height of the ‘curtaingate’ affair last month.

‘The danger for Boris Johnson is if MPs feel he is no longer a winner they will turn on him,’ she said, adding that she had been told by one former Conservative Cabinet minister recently: ‘There are a lot of plotters hiding in a lot of bushes just waiting to pounce.’

In which case there must have been a lot of whimpering in the rhododendrons early on May 7 when the result of the Hartlepool by-election and early local government results showed that Johnson had once more fulfilled his side of this political bargain in spades.