Suddenly, out of the blue, comes a saviour. The Lib Dems have failed to capitalise on the downfall of Liz Truss. As the Tories’ polling hits record lows, all of the gains are going to Labour. This weekend, Ed Davey and his colleagues will be praying for the return of Boris Johnson.
Boris was gold dust for the Lib Dems. In Ed Davey’s coveted Blue Wall seats across southern England, Boris was their greatest asset near the end of his premiership. These seats are traditionally Tory but lean Remain and socially liberal. They are also filled with the type of voters who would respond most warmly to Rishi Sunak’s ‘sensible’ calm-the-markets style of leadership. The return of the ramshackle approach of Johnson, sure to be even worse a second time round, will be anathema to these voters.
Betting on Boris is not a sustainable strategy
This is the trade-off Tories should consider carefully when deciding whether or not Boris Johnson is truly a ‘winner’.
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