Jo Johnson’s resignation will only reinforce the doubts that Boris Johnson is only interested in himself and not the national interest
Jo Johnson was a remainer who resigned from Theresa May’s Government in Nov 2018 saying no deal would “inflict untold damage” on the country.
He and his brother clearly disagree. But to accuse him of betraying national interest on first day of his “election campaign” is ? ?
— Tamara Cohen (@tamcohen) September 5, 2019
In a move more reminiscent of Game of Thrones meets the Milibands Jo Johnson’s resignation as both a minister and an MP has the potential to be the most damaging event in Boris Johnson’s disastrous week. If things pan out as expected, then he either has to deliver an extension to Article 50, break the law, or resign and break the record of George Canning as the United Kingdom’s shortest serving Prime Minister.
The strategy to have an election before the 31st of October looks like failing as the Commons last night left Boris Johnson looking like an impotent porn star, unable perform and becoming a figure of fun.
Back to Jo Johnson’s resignation, Boris Johnson is launching the de facto Tory general election campaign in Yorkshire today. and I’d expect it to be dominated by questions about Jo Johnson’s resignation. As we saw with the Milibands this sort of stuff can be repeatedly used to confirm to the public Boris Johnson’s unsuitably for the top job.
‘His brother doesn’t trust him on Brexit, why should you?’ is the sort of the attack line you can expect to be used, and I think it will work, just look at the polling from YouGov conducted on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.
Twice as many voters think Boris Johnson puts his own interests of the national interest, that’s a very bad place to be in. His performances in the Commons this last week also hint that he will perform very poorly in a general election campaign.
Also from the same poll Boris Johnson’s strategy to try and go for a No Deal might not be the vote winner his strategist think it will be.
One thing we’ve learned from recent polling failures is that it is not wise to look solely at the headline voting intentions but to look at the supplementaries as well.Boris Johnson trying to sell a No Deal Brexit to the voters might turn out sub optimal for the Conservative party.