The Tory manifesto shows we don't need to trust Boris on Brexit

‘But can we really trust the Tories to deliver Brexit?’ This is the question I am most often asked on social media and in person by long-standing Brexiteers who, like me, are not habitual or tribal Conservatives.

And the reply I never give is: ‘Yes, of course we can’. Because let’s be blunt about this: the Conservative party has not earned the trust of Brexiteers over the years.

It had to be bullied into holding a referendum by Ukip, at a time when the number of Conservative MPs prepared openly to speak in favour of leaving the EU could be counted on the fingers of one hand. It then immediately handed the Brexit process over to a pro-Remain leader who constructed a deal that would serve as a ‘bridge’ (copyright, Sir Olly Robbins) to a high-alignment future, i.e. Brexit In Name Only.

It then failed to take us out of the EU when it said it would and had to be bullied by the newly-formed Brexit party into installing a fresh leader who understood the point of leaving and the arrangements from which it was essential to depart.