What next for the Conservative Party?

ON Thursday the good people of Wakefield and Tiverton went to the polls and sent a clear message that they do not want Boris Johnson to be their Prime Minister.

As much as I or any other Labour supporter would like it to be about Kier Starmer, just as the Lib Dem’s want it to be about their leader Ed Davey, it really isn’t yet.

Starmer, in particular, has failed to ignite the public imagination.

We inhabit a world where personality is all important.

Up to now, popularity has had more currency than competence, especially with the majority of voters.

I would like nothing more than to see a removal of this grossly incompetent Conservative Government, but we are at least two years away from that and the current leader of the opposition is considerably further away from the top job.

I genuinely hope that the Wakefield result is the restart of the next Labour Government, but Starmer has an awful lot to do to realise that ambition.

In the meantime Boris Johnson will say that he is listening to what the voters have said and will work even harder to deliver the people’s priorities. He may have listened, but he hasn’t heard. The voters want him out and at the moment it is only the Tory backbenchers who can deliver that.

Clearly, it would not be an advantage for the Labour Party if Boris Johnson is finally dragged kicking and screaming out of Number 10.

However, a new leader could perhaps restore a modicum of competence to government.

All Conservative MPS should really think about that, for the good of the nation.

Peter Lowsley.