Boris Johnson should cut the busking and bluster to quell Tory discontent - Bernard Ingham

Dominic Cummings, his vicious former chief adviser, is not the only one who has it in for him. Some of those in or around the Government machine take every opportunity to twist the knife when he lands in a spot of bother.

And he is certainly in trouble with three issues round his neck – Wallpapergate, as the refurbishment of his Downing Street living quarters is inevitably called; Christmas parties or gatherings or quizzes in No 10 a year ago when the rest of us were supposed to be holed up because of the pandemic; and a Tory revolt over his latest “Plan B” Covid restrictions.

The first two question his integrity and the last his political judgment in trying to reconcile the threat to public health and the NHS with the economic consequences of a renewed clampdown.

There is not much Christmas spirit abroad in Whitehall and Westminster. But there never is when panicky Tory MPs fear for their seats.

In one sense the row over last year’s No 10 Christmas festivities is entirely understandable. All governments are tooth-combed for double standards – in this case following the example of Mr Cummings in ignoring national rules they have made. Moreover, this is not the first time this Government has been accused of having it both ways – witness Mr Cummings.

But in another sense “Christmaspartygate”, as I am sure it will be christened, reveals both the animus against Boris and the depths to which our politics have sunk.

We have around our necks a Covid variant, a vast budget deficit, a hostile Europe because of Brexit that is compounding the illegal immigration problem and Russia and China menacing the Ukraine and Taiwan.

This is not to mention the eternal concern about the NHS’s ability to cope with winter, impaired educational performance because of the pandemic and a crime wave.

And all we can fratch about is whether they had a party or two or three in No 10 a year ago. It does not say much for our sense of priorities.

But it speaks volumes for the mid-term disenchantment with Boris Johnson after his 2019 election victory, getting Brexit done and presiding over one of the world’s best Covid vaccination programmes. There is never much gratitude in politics.

Yet, unless I am mistaken, I doubt whether the Tories really do want to ditch him, provided he can get out of the current mess, with its allegations of lying.

He may be a load of potential trouble because of his approach to life but he does get the big things done and there is still no one to match his charisma.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer’s calling for his head can only help him. They know when they are up against an election winner.

The real question for the Tories, if our political Houdini escapes this week’s mutiny and tomorrow’s North Shropshire by-election, is what to do about his style and method of governance.

They now have enough experience of it to know its failings – notably a lack of discipline, control and attention to detail.

Boris may be such a Cavalier that he will never submit to the Roundheads’ puritan ways. If so, I fear his fate will be that of Mark Anthony’s eulogy to Julius Caesar: “The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.”

His present imbroglios are probably his last chance to bring some order to the often chaotic government we have experienced, even allowing for all the serious problems it has on its plate.

So, what should he do? Spare us importing another “enforcer”, as is speculated, if he is anything like Cummings. Instead the Tory Party should rise to the challenge.

If they still recognise Boris as a potential election winner, the older, experienced hands with a constructive reputation have got to front up, demand a meeting and bring about change.

It does not take a genius to tell the PM what is required. First, he should start the day with them with a stocktaking of the immediate past and future events to identify how they could have been better handled and rehearse how to cope with the day’s likely problems. Let’s cut out the busking and bluster.

Second, and very importantly, he needs a tightly knit group of politically motivated individuals scouring the Government’s output for anomalies and inconsistencies.

And third, Boris most certainly should heed their advice. And if he still goes his own way, God help Boris – and us.

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