Labour would win a Tory civil war

THERE is never a good time for a political party’s members, especially MPs, to plot against their leader. But in the second half of a parliament such behaviour is even more dangerous and foolish.

The next General Election is likely to fall by May 2024. If the Tory Party now gives itself over to internal strife, which is never over quickly, this will be the main thing that voters will remember two years hence.

And it is well known that the public actively hate it when their would-be leaders squabble in public. If those who seek to govern the country cannot behave with selfrestraint and discipline, why should they be entrusted with the seals of office?

But, alas, internal war is enjoyable for many of those who take part in it.

It can further the ambitions of the obscure, who can make names for themselves in smallscale strife as they never could in normal times.

It can also provide revenge for those who have held office and lost it.

Perhaps too many Tories have forgotten the era of Theresa May, during which incessant division gravely weakened their party.

But they surely ought to remember the success which followed its reunification under Boris Johnson, who famously got Brexit done, won a convincing majority in a General Election and, by common consent, has coped well with Covid and the Ukraine crisis.

It is precisely because his opponents have so little political ammunition against him that they have needed to make a huge issue out of Partygate. And while Mr Johnson has many failings, and has had a bumpy ride over the past few months, he remains an unusually effective political leader with a direct personal appeal to the public which no Tory has had for decades.

Those who now say that he has lost his magic need to understand that the challenges of actual office strip the outward shine off almost everyone who takes it on.

Which of them could stand the incessant personal scrutiny that is nowadays the lot of a UK Prime Minister?

And they need to ask themselves, who else could do any better – especially in the key task of appealing beyond the Conservative Party’s traditional constituency in the so-called ‘Red Wall’ seats which will be so important at the next Election.

Murmuring against him will only help Sir Keir Starmer, and his allies, with all this implies.