‘Operation Red Meat’ won’t beef up the government

Are you ready for ‘Operation Red Meat’? If not, then you should brace yourself. For it looks set to be one of the most fearsome operations of modern political times, liable to make Conservative voters quiver with excitement and feel almost too stimulated.

Alert readers will have noticed that Boris Johnson did not have the best end to 2021. Unfortunately he hasn’t had the best start to 2022 either. Hardly a day has gone by when we haven’t learned of some new shocker from No. 10. The impression has been not just of shambolic-ness but of dishonesty, double standards and general incompetence.

The point is that the Prime Minister and the fawning court around him seem to have noticed that he has lost his lustre. The joke has worn thin. The only politician of his generation who could actually make people feel good about things has become the punchline of an especially unfunny gag.