Brexiteer Boris Johnson is the only one who can beat Nigel Farage in election — and must be our next PM
IF the polls are right – always a big “if” – Boris Johnson is our next Prime Minister. In which case we are heading for a third general election in four years and perhaps another Tory victory.
With support for Theresa May’s government at rock bottom this might sound wildly delusional.
But if last month’s EU elections prove anything, it is the heartfelt desire of British voters for a party committed to Brexit.
If the Tories are to survive, this cannot be Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party.
The next PM needs to kill this insurgency stone dead and deliver the 2016 instructions of 17.4 million voters.
Latest opinion polls suggest Boris hits the spot, winning against his rivals even among non-Tory voters on every measure including, perhaps surprisingly, competence and trustworthiness.
In the words of American President Donald Trump to this newspaper: “Boris would do a very good job.”
POLLS SUGGEST BORIS HITS THE SPOT
BoJo is rated by voters of ALL parties not just as “best fun in a pub” but as best Tory leader, with more votes than his four closest rivals combined.
This is because the twice-Mayor of London has publicly vowed to take Britain out of the EU with or without a deal by October 31.
It might upset Tory Remainers but for most of the country, hardened by Project Fear scaremongering, it would finally deliver the promise broken by Theresa May on March 29.
Deltapoll say 45 per cent feel they have “nothing to fear” from No Deal, while any problems would be “short term”.
Only 30 per cent think it would cause “severe” problems.
Labour is in even worse strife, riven with dissent over Brexit, anti-semitism and sexual misconduct claims
Barring last-minute Brussels concessions, which are likely under real pressure, this suggests a showdown with Brexit-hating ministers, MPs and the blatantly partisan Commons Speaker John Bercow.
Any PM determined to meet the autumn deadline would have to call a decisive In-Out election.
Boris could — and should — win it. Indeed, it might be the Tories’ last best chance.
But time is against them. Farage is gathering pace, mopping up disenchanted Tories and perhaps scoring his first MP in this Thursday’s Peterborough by-election.
Once entrenched, he will be hard to shift. There is one bright spot for the Tories.
RICH PICKINGS FOR A BREXITEERING PM
Labour is in even worse strife, riven with dissent over Brexit, anti-semitism and sexual misconduct claims.
Jew-baiting Labour figures and alleged sex pests close to Jezza, like John Prescott’s son David, are treated with kid gloves while Blairite Alastair Campbell is booted out for voting Lib Dem.
In a bombshell move, the Equalities and Human Rights Commission has ordered an official probe into Labour anti-semitism.
Jezza and sinister Stalinist guru Seumas Milne are locked in battle with once-close Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell and half the Shadow Cabinet, amid calls for Milne to be sacked.
Over lunch in a posh restaurant, a friend who knows Milne well told me: “Seumas is a bad man. He would shoot everyone in this room.”
This political landscape offers rich pickings for a bold, charismatic new Brexiteering Prime Minister determined to leave as promised on October 31
I’m not sure he was joking. Meanwhile, a rabble of Labour, Tory and Lib Dems who voted Remain last time and lost are pressing for a second referendum but with different questions.
The 52 per cent who voted Leave in 2016 have not gone away. They’ve just shifted to where they feel welcome.
This huge electorate, more than half the nation, is bigger than any majority commanded by any British government in post-war history.
Theresa May threw that majority away by offering a botched BRINO — Brexit In Name Only.
This political landscape offers rich pickings for a bold, charismatic new Brexiteering Prime Minister determined to leave as promised on October 31. That rules out flip-flopping Foreign Secretary
Jeremy Hunt and dithering Home Secretary Sajid Javid.
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It narrows the chances of Dominic Raab, despite the best performance so far by a declared candidate.
Michael Gove, who wants an extra year to negotiate with Brussels, will struggle to win over Tory members who have the final say.
Which, by my reckoning, just leaves Boris. And, with apologies to Brenda of Bristol, an autumn election.
Elton's message for the fans
PIANO player Elton John last week launched a scathing attack on “stupid” British fans who voted Brexit.
“I’m ashamed of my country for what it has done,” he told his audience in Verona. “I am sick to death of Brexit. I am a European. I am not a stupid, colonial, imperialist English idiot.”
A reader writes: “How can such people be so stupid and blind? Perhaps their lifestyle has rotted their brains. It is the EU, not Britain, that is colonialist and imperialist.”
