Read on Twitter
. @alexwickham has further blood-curdling briefing this morning on the No 10 wars. But there is a theme in there which sounds warning bells for the future (1/?)
I worked on Boris's election campaign, and I'm v happy he won. But he did so with the lowest favourability rating of any victorious PM since Blair post-Iraq.
His advantage on that, obviously, was that he was up against the Opposition leader with the lowest favourability ratings ever seen.
Brexit turned Boris into a Marmite politician. As I pointed out in my column a while ago ( https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sunak-gives-the-government-a-scent-of-success-but-he-mustnt-forget-hes-johnsons-bag-man-0zqv9q7st), there is a large and implacable bloc of voters who really don't like him (especially in Scotland...)
Whoever is talking to @alexwickham seems to imagine he can be father of the nation, Mayor Boris, a unifying rather than a polarising figure. But as I said in my column yesterday, that ship has sailed, those bridges have been burnt. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/cummings-came-saw-and-conquered-and-the-party-he-made-isnt-going-anywhere-6dm2b873n
A more consensual approach is a great idea. But the Tories do need to remember that 'he won the last election because voters loved him' in particular areas, for particular reasons.
If they proceed on the basis that he is 'the most popular Tory PM since Churchill', they are setting themselves up for a fall. (Also glaringly historically illiterate - Macmillan and Thatcher both had larger majorities, twice in her case...)
Belatedly, there’s a parallel here with the green agenda. It’s really important but there’s also really good evidence that w/c voters (thanks to XR et al) see it as meaning ‘we’ll pay more’. Framing and policy detail are crucial.
(Again, wrote about this a few weeks back https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/memo-to-xr-yes-im-right-wing-but-that-doesnt-mean-i-want-to-wreck-the-planet-lx5rzcls6)
