I trust Boris Johnson to win 50-seat majority at general election – Bernard Ingham

LET us fervently pray that on Friday morning no pundit is prompted by the election result to quote Winston Churchill’s moving tribute to Battle of Britain pilots: “Never in the field of human conflict have so many owed so much to so few”.

They might be if a few quirks in marginal constituencies give the Tories only a narrow majority. However
narrow, it would be better than a Jeremy Corbyn-led government. But it would not get Brexit done easily. Parliamentary uncertainty would still dog us even though every Conservative candidate is sworn to back leaving the European Union.

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By now I can hear readers saying “Oh ye of little faith”. Others will be quoting Churchill’s “Trust the people”.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks to the press on board his campaign plane this week.Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks to the press on board his campaign plane this week.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks to the press on board his campaign plane this week.

In one sense I do. My best estimate of a Tory majority has not wavered from around 50 – a perfectly adequate working majority for a whole Parliament.

It is frankly difficult to believe that after several weeks of exposure to
public scrutiny, Corbyn could now be elected to run even a tiddleywink school, let alone the fifth largest economy in the world.

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He stands condemned by his own
party members of anti-Semitism. His record of backing enemies of the UK – whether ideological or terrorist – is appalling. His prevarication over Brexit is a denial of leadership. And his Marxist creed has wrecked the economies of every country where it has been expensively tested.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson gestures as he takes questions during a visit to Fergusons Transport in Washington, Tyne & Wear, while on the general election campaign trail.Prime Minister Boris Johnson gestures as he takes questions during a visit to Fergusons Transport in Washington, Tyne & Wear, while on the general election campaign trail.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson gestures as he takes questions during a visit to Fergusons Transport in Washington, Tyne & Wear, while on the general election campaign trail.

I cannot recall any political leader who has been so consistently vilified, not merely by his opponents but also by a handful his own MPs who have felt driven from the Labour Party and the Jewish Labour Movement.

If the British people cannot be relied upon to reject such leadership then we might as well emigrate to the Commonwealth with our brass before, heaven forbid, Chancellor John McDonnell introduces exchange control.

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So, why should I not trust the people? Well, Theresa May’s long lead in the polls nearly evaporated in 2017. Admittedly, Boris Johnson is a more inspirational Tory leader. But we do not know what effect the Brexit Party will have on the Tories in marginal seats, though that threat may be waning with the withdrawal of Brexit candidates.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson during a visit to Grimsby Fish Market, while on the General Election campaign trail.Prime Minister Boris Johnson during a visit to Grimsby Fish Market, while on the General Election campaign trail.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson during a visit to Grimsby Fish Market, while on the General Election campaign trail.

Similarly, we have no idea to what extent Remainers coalescing around the ill-styled Liberal Democrats, if that is what they do, will damage the Tories. Meanwhile, nationalists, having proved conclusively in Scotland and Wales they are incompetent at managing resources, will boost the hard Left’s power in Parliament.

As for the Greens, they are but Corbynistas in green raiment – and daft with it.

All this – and the weather forecast – means that there is plenty of room for things to go wrong for the Conservatives and the country tomorrow.

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On the other hand, all might be well if the uncertainties and risks embolden Labour folk, brought up like me to have nothing to do with Marxists and their ilk, to break the habit of a lifetime and vote Tory.

We shall see. But let us have no more nonsense about whether Boris Johnson is trustworthy.

You can trust a Corbyn government comprehensively to wreck the economy, render us defenceless, break up the UK and probably keep us in the EU and abolish the monarchy, now conveniently for them in turmoil over Prince Andrew’s woeful judgment. The Prince reminds me of Mark Thatcher in his capacity for causing his mother damage.

To their eternal shame, you can
trust the bulk of “moderate” Labour MPs to back Corbyn. After all, they have signed up to his spendthrift £1.2bn spending spree. You can also trust the nationalists and Greens to embrace a Marxist programme. And you can trust the Liberal Democrats to do their darndest to keep us in the decadent
EU

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Most importantly, you can trust Boris Johnson to do none of these things. He may have led an untidy life – as untidy as he looks. He may be a bit of a lad and carefree with it.

But he did twice win the mayoralty of London, the home of Labour’s naive, 
so-called “liberal elite”, and got things done. He also negotiated a Brexit agreement in quick time that was endorsed by the Commons before the Remainers moved in with their procedural sabotage.

He deserves the chance to get us out of the EU and lead us to the promised land. You can certainly trust him to promote a free society in contrast to Corbyn’s totalitarian state.

And that, more than anything else is for me the clincher. I would not swap our freedom for the Crown Jewels.