Classic Sun Tzu

I'm in a quandary. While ousting Boris would appear, at first glance, to be a success for the future of the country, and Labour, it's far from that for Labour.

If Boris is chased out of office, there's a non-zero chance that he could be replaced by someone competent. If the only candidates are those in the current cabinet, then there's little chance of that happening, although Sunak could feasibly perform well. But an old-style Conservative could enter the fray and 2 years is a long time in which to rebuild trust with the electorate. However, if he or she can, then that's a plus.

Leave Boris in place and it's guaranteed to result in 2 more years of misrule, as he's psychologically incapable of learning from mistakes. Everyone will eventually get sick of him, even those who are currently supporting him against their better judgement and compromising their immortal souls. Weathering the current storm would probably embolden him and make him even more reckless in his behaviour, to the detriment of us all.

Yes, there's the effect on the UK of his idiotic, anti-Woke policies for another 2 years, but they can be reversed. Also another 2 years of recklessness would cement resent in those who still support him slavishly, once the full consequences of his lies hits their pockets, as it's already starting to. That said, inflation is finite in extent and probably last much more than a year, but the effects of Brexit certainly will.

It's a simple trade off between short term vs long term gain - and, well, just strategy. 

I'm reminded of Sun Tzu's 3 way horse race advice to Tian Ji. He told Tian Ji to race his best horse against the king’s secondary one, his secondary one against the king’s slowest, and his slowest against the king’s fastest one. The result was that Tian Ji won two races and lost only one.

OK, this isn't a 3 horse race, but you're better off putting what you've got against the opposition's worst, and who knows what replacing Boris will lead to in terms of a competent Tory leader, if that's not an oxymoron at present.

If Boris remains, and ss time runs out, the parliamentary Tories may once again attempt to oust him, but time is a precious commodity. The closer to a GE his replacement comes in, the harder it will be to turn the Titanic around and miss the iceberg that's in front of UK Plc.

As for the Red Wall Conservative MP who has crossed the floor to save his skin, I suspect he will be viewed with intense suspicion by the local party and may end up being deselected before the next GE and replaced with a bona fide Labour candidate - probably the one who was a Labour MP before the last GE. The ex Conservative also, somewhat ironically, co-sponsored a bill to demand that crossing the floor should result in a by election. Can't see that being pursued. It's come back and bitten him in the bum.