Is this finally Boris Johnson’s moment?

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more. That was the message of Boris Johnson’s speech this morning at a JCB factory in Staffordshire. He admitted this week that he regretted bottling his leadership bid in 2016. This time is his last chance to have a go at swiping the ultimate prize – the keys to Downing Street – a prize he’s coveted since he was a boy. Boris’s earliest known quotation is when, asked by his sister Rachel as a child what he wanted to be when he grew up, he said, “World King.”

He’s thinner and more smartly dressed than he’s been for years. That might have been influenced by the reported acquisition of his new 30-year-old girlfriend, Carrie Symonds. But clearly – as today’s speech shows – it’s also part of a major new leadership bid. The revelation, too, earlier this month, that Boris’s office has received donations from a company run by Lynton Crosby – the Wizard of Oz, who masterminded Boris’s mayoral victories – only goes to buttress the argument.