What to do About Boris

Conservatives are in a cognitively dissonant quandary. Even the most dyed-in-the-wool, flag and statue worshipping Tory knows Boris is terminally incompetent and a congenital liar, but they have nowhere else to go until such time as the party ditches and replaces him with someone having at least a semblance of competence, honesty and integrity. 

They have to support him, knowing they will be accused of supporting a liar and a cheat and they will resort to every trick in the book to square the circle to justify their action - you can take their defence of Boris with a pinch of the metaphorical salt, no matter how they attempt to trivialise accusations of corruption by calling it mere tittle-tattle about his choice of curtains. It's a desperate clutching at straws.

They may be congenitally wedded to inequality, hierarchical positions based on wealth, small government (which is useless in an emergency that demands excess capacity, as we have seen) and low taxes - but they're between a rock and a hard place, and they know it. Their morals and ethics (yes, many have them) have been trashed by having to support Boris, and they're embarrassed about it - probably fuming that they've been trapped into this position.

Labour supporters, on the other hand, have the refuge of the LibDems if corruption raises its head, but that only splits the left vote and is therefore a strategic weakness against a party where the only alternative - Farage - is unthinkable.

I am certain that many Tory voters are simply pinching their collective noses, temporarily switching off what passes for a moral compass, remaining in a holding pattern and hoping the party will come to its senses. Perhaps, with all the corruption leaks emanating from within the heart of government itself, this is exactly what's happening now and Tory voters are hoping this episode will be over swiftly. You won't hear them voicing that opinion though - they'll continue to provide the Liar in Chief with whatever support is necessary for the sake of their ideological cul-de-sac, despite it trashing their moral reputations and them having to argue black is white.

Where a shift in opinion may well become apparent is in the Red Wall constituencies, where the merest sniff of lies about levelling up with have dire consequences. The Tory party's need to get shot of its liability is urgent - and Dom Cummings, probably the shrewdest and most dangerous political manipulator of a generation, knows this. If Boris has to be sacrificed on the altar of ideology, then so be it.