Keir Starmer was in lethal form against the PM and Sajid Javid, despite oratorical deficiencies, was hardly less deadly
From left: Mark Spencer, Dominic Raab, Boris Johnson, Nadhim Zahawi and Nadine Dorries. Behind them, despair gripped the backbenches.From left: Mark Spencer, Dominic Raab, Boris Johnson, Nadhim Zahawi and Nadine Dorries. Behind them, despair gripped the backbenches.Last modified on Wed 6 Jul 2022 22.21 BSThe Sky News helicopter hovered above Westminster. The constant thrum an insistent death knell for any incumbent prime minister.
That was just the start of his troubles. Tory backbenchers Tim Loughton and Gary Sambrook called for him to just go before he took the party any further into the sewer, but it was Sajid Javid’s resignation speech that proved the killer. Javid is no natural orator – his chances of making leader are vanishing to nil – but he had a powerful story to tell. The Convict had lied to him. Had lied to everyone. Enough was enough. Doing nothing was no excuse: it was an active decision.
Labour’s Darren Jones adopted an almost caring tone. This must be a painful moment, he said. This was too much for Johnson. The contempt and dislike he can take. What destroys him is the pity. The reminder of his own weakness. So he just rocked back and forth in his chair – primal, childlike – and smirked. Asked about something he had written about oblivion setting in, he could only joke that it must have been penned by Cicero or Aristotle. Only he laughed. It was too much a private grief.
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