Fear has triumphed over loathing this general election

This election is a war between disgust and fear: disgust at the miserable inadequates who represent ‘your side’; fear of what your enemies may do to you. It looks as if fear is winning. No country can fight two extremist movements at once. Fear of one side drives voters into the arms of the other, however much it disgusts them.

Boris Johnson’s dismal approval ratings reflect the widespread belief that he lies to everyone from the Queen downwards, and doesn’t have the faintest idea of how to lead the country or smallest concern about where he is taking it.

The moralising conservatism that once dominated the party may be dead as far as the Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph are concerned, but just because they have fallen silent does not mean that millions are not worried about a man who uses and discards wives and mistresses as easily as he changes shirts.