Tories must unite for country’s sake

WHO can now predict what will happen in British politics in the next few weeks, or even the next few days?

Stability has, for the moment, disappeared. In such times, events that might normally take a year can be compressed into a matter of hours.

One thing that is for sure is that the Tory Party’s disarray – which it brought on itself by ejecting Boris Johnson from No10 – is doing great harm.

And the longer it persists, the more harm it will do. The tragedy of this is that the arrival in office of Mr Johnson, and his unification of the party around a swift and decisive Brexit, did so much to heal Toryism and to make it electable after the rollercoaster years of David Cameron and Theresa May.

The task for all sensible Conservatives now is to try to restore that unity. One interesting precedent is the 2003 unopposed election of Michael Howard (now Lord Howard) as party leader after the ill-starred era of Sir Iain Duncan Smith. Lord Howard’s stewardship led to a great recovery in the party’s fortunes and can be credited for its ultimate return to power. It is also notable that Sir Iain was treated with generosity after his departure and went on to make a distinguished contribution to welfare reform.

The basic point is this. For the sake of the country, which must be protected from economic chaos and the risk of another Labour-dominated government, all Conservatives should now sink their differences and pursue harmony and effectiveness. Recriminations and petty vengeances can be saved for memoirs several years hence.

It will be a hard road back to the standing and poll ratings they had before the ousting of Mr Johnson, but it is one they must tread. There is not much time to recover, and no time at all for public squabbling.