BoJo’s latest move has whiff of self-interest...

JUST when England is focused on recapturing past glories – in footballing terms – comes proof that the plan for doing so economically and politically was never more than a pipe dream.

But ironically, it may be that an England World Cup victory would give the country’s politicians the cover to quietly beat a strategic retreat on the more material front.

Why seek to Make Britain Great Again when Harry Kane et al might just deliver proof that Britain has always been great, and it’s 1966 all over again?

When the red shirts (much in evidence for the Three Lions in this tournament) clutched the Jules Rimet that far-off Wembley day, it was two years before the Troubles broke out in earnest, so Northern Ireland meant only George Best.

Turning back the clock half a century, as could happen tomorrow night and on Sunday, would create a feelgood factor that could deliver Theresa May from the thorns of her current difficulty. But it might indeed be only a difficulty, and a temporary one at that.

A poised performance in parliament yesterday by Mrs May – in which she deliberately channelled Maggie Thatcher by choosing a trueblue twinset and pearls – made it look to Irish observers as if she very well might hang on, with the malcontents banished to the backbenches.

She has still divided her enemies, after all, despite the high-profile departures of David Davis and Boris Johnson yesterday.

On the other hand, Michael Gove appears to have knuckled down to the challenge delivered at Chequers on Friday, while international trade secretary Liam Fox defended the new collective standpoint over the weekend, as did less high-profile Brexiteers, having been offered no alternative leadership.

Furthermore, Davis, speaking on his resignation, made it clear that he was not acting as a stalking horse, that he does not want the leadership for himself, and that he is not seeking a contest.

Which brings in Boris’s bouncing himself out of Cabinet. His decision, viewed from Dublin, does not look like leadership, forced as it was by the Davis departure. Johnson has now twice seen his hand forced as his progress continues to what he sees as his ultimate career fulfilment.

When the prize beckoned, after David Cameron’s resignation, Johnson’s leadership bid was abandoned when Michael Gove launched a solo bid, having previously promised to back Boris.

And when Theresa May was at her most vulnerable, after a disastrous general election last year of her own calling, Johnson stayed in and waited for her fall, which never happened.

But he has now walked out himself, outflanked by Davis. The BoJo problem is the perception of him acting purely out of self interest.

He could have resigned late last month on the issue of the third Heathrow runway, approved by cabinet when he had arranged to be absent in Kabul – having previously pledged to be the first to lie down in front of the bulldozers.

If he had gone then, he would have recaptured some high ground and gained the ability to claim to be a man of principle – a good launch pad for a would-be prime minister.

Johnson’s four-letter outbursts and designer muddle-headedness might be a good brand, but there is no evidence it can attract sufficient weight of support to swing in behind him.

The likelihood must be that he will brood on the backbenches and hope something will fall from the sky to knock out Theresa May – a botched Brexit or a general election.