The Daily Telegraph Wednesday 24 July 2019 *** 7
It is ‘do or die’ not just for
Brexit but for the future of
Conservative Party as well
A
fter 40 years of dreaming
about becoming prime
minister, this is not the
start that Boris Johnson
would have wanted. He
takes over a bitterly
divided party, he has no overall
parliamentary majority and he has
just 100 days to deliver Brexit. Truly,
this is a bittersweet moment for him.
His party’s position in the Commons
is not about to improve either. Next
week, the seat of Brecon and
Radnorshire, Tory-held since 2015,
seems certain to be gained by the Lib
Dems in a by-election.
Furthermore, I expect resignations
from within the Conservative
parliamentary party if Mr Johnson
proceeds with his “do or die” Brexit
strategy. For the fact is that many Tory
Remainer politicians don’t just dislike
Brexit, they actively hate Mr Johnson
as well.
I believe he may conclude the only
way to survive in No 10 is to revisit the
failed Withdrawal Agreement and ask
Brussels to help change some of its
words. In the unlikely event that such
a rehash were to be passed by MPs,
Mr Johnson would buy himself some
breathing space, but the bigger picture
would be bleak. It would lead to more
years of discord and anger.An alternative survival route might
be if he sought a further extension
beyond Oct 31. But, having given
repeated assurances that the UK will
leave the EU by that date come what
may, it’s impossible to see how even
he could pull off such a stunt and
emerge with any credibility.
Fewer than half of Conservative
voters believe Mr Johnson will be able
to deliver on his “do or die” promises.
And, so far, the bounce for the party
in the opinion polls with him as leader
still leaves them languishing on 25
per cent.
There is no doubt that the past three
years of lies and indecision have takentheir toll and that trust in politics is
badly broken. But trust in the Tories
is equally badly broken. Any further
delay beyond Oct 31 will be seen as a
second great act of betrayal and their
support will collapse altogether.
The European elections were a
sobering experience for the Tories.
Their support fell to only 10 per cent
of the vote and I already know of
several large-scale Tory donors who
switched to the Brexit Party overnight.
Arguably, the Conservatives’ future
is already in doubt. Suddenly, it is “do
or die” not just for Brexit, but for theConservative Party as well.
Mr Johnson should realise that he is
going to have to risk his longed-for
position as PM to ensure Brexit is
enacted properly. There is no prospect
of a meaningful Brexit thanks to the
views of most sitting MPs. And any
attempt to prorogue Parliament will
lead to the PM being brought down by
his own side. The inescapable truth,
therefore, is that he must hold an
autumn general election. That is his
only way out. Doing so will take
enormous courage. Inevitably, it will
trigger a split in the Tory Party. But the
country is crying out for leadership
and a resolution to the Brexit crisis.
For this strategy to work, he will
need the support of the Brexit Party.
But it is far from straightforward. I
genuinely struggle to understand
where he stands on many of the great
issues of the day. He flip-flops on HS2.
He is similarly inscrutable when it
comes to the third runway at
Heathrow. He has no discernible
policy on how to tackle immigration.
Even on Brexit, he was very late
to the cause. He will have a lot of
convincing to do to persuade us that
an early election will lead to a clean-
break Brexit on Oct 31. If he is able to
convince us, then together we would
electorally smash the Labour Party, he
would assume a big working majority,
and he would go down as one of the
great leaders in British history.
But is Boris Johnson brave enough?Nigel Farage is the Brexit Party leaderScruton reinstated as minister apologises
By Charles Hymas
HOME AFFAIRS EDITORSIR ROGER SCRUTON has been reap-
pointed to his unpaid role as a govern-
ment housing adviser after the minister
who sacked him apologised.
The academic lost the post in April
when comments about China and the
financier George Soros were published
by the New Statesman magazine.
The magazine has since apologised,
after admitting the remarks had been
taken out of context. James Broken-shire, the Communities Secretary, said
last week he regretted firing Sir Roger.
Sir Roger said he had been “demon-
ised” and “disowned” by No 10 after the
New Statesman article. Downing Street
said at the time the remarks were
deeply offensive and completely unac-
ceptable.
In a letter published in The Spectator
after his reappointment, Sir Roger said
he was “so pleased that all has been re-
solved in a friendly way and we can re-
turn to the matter in hand”. He will
serve as co-chairman of the BuildingBetter, Building Beautiful Commis-
sion, an independent body that advises
the Government.
The quotes attributed to Sir Roger,
which described the Chinese “creating
robots out of their own people” and re-
ferred to a “Soros empire” in Hungary- a reference to Mr Soros, the billion-
aire, who is Jewish – were criticised as
inflammatory and even racist.
The magazine acknowledged he had
not been reported fairly or in full.
Mr Brokenshire told Sir Roger: “I
hope this may help to put things right.”
‘Any further delay beyond
Oct 31 will be seen as asecond great act of betrayal
and support will collapse’Nigel Faragege
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