No one has done more to save Boris than Keir Starmer

Boris Johnson has a lot of people to thank for his survival in 10 Downing Street, but Keir Starmer should be at the top of the list. The Labour leader whipped his MPs to side with the government when lockdown votes looked tricky. Labour even saved Johnson from a defeat in the Commons over vaccine passports. But Starmer’s greatest service came last month, on a day that could have finished Johnson for good.

Members of the 2019 crop of Tory MPs had met to discuss their problems with the Prime Minister. The scene was set for an old-fashioned Conservative regicide. But just as senior Tories began to tell journalists that a confidence vote was imminent, the Labour party announced that Christian Wakeford, a Red Wall MP, had crossed the floor. The defection triggered the Tories’ tribal instincts and they rallied behind their leader. The immediate threat to Johnson subsided.

This moment seemed like another own goal from Starmer.