Memo to the “Bring Back Boris” brigade
Is he really an electoral asset?
This weekend we have seen a new Conservative organization hold its first meeting in Bournemouth and it is widely believed that the aim of it is to get Boris back at number 10.
Yesterday on Twitter I found myself having a long argument with some pro-Johnson supporters about the electability of the man they are backing and I was rather amazed by their persistence. The real problem they’ve got is that Johnson looks like a vote loser as we can see in the chart from YouGov.
We have still to see the final report from the Commons Privileges committee on whether he misled the house but there is a real possibility he could be suspended which raises the prospect of a recall petition in his constituency of Uxbridge and South Ruislip. There is just a chance of Johnson being booted out as an MP.
His backers always point to the Tory performance at GE2019 but they disregard that the biggest driver of ex-LAB voters from the party was that their leader was Corbyn. The vote was not FOR Johnson but AGAINST Corbyn.
His other main victory for the London mayor was against Ken Livingstone another now discredited Labour figure.