A shame-faced Boris Johnson told his own MPs this week that he had “crashed the car into the ditch” by misjudging the Owen Paterson scandal. As he heads to his country retreat of Chequers this weekend, some at Westminster have begun to wonder if he has what it takes to get the show back on the road.
As well as exposing Johnson’s lax approach to probity in public life, the Paterson debacle highlighted what those who have worked with him say is one of his most maddening characteristics – the impetuous style of decision-making and tendency to sudden reversals cruelly caricatured by Dominic Cummings as “like a shopping trolley”.
And it played into wider worries about his competence and whether the Downing Street machine is working as it should. “No 10 is a really difficult job and he doesn’t have the skillset to run it, he just doesn’t,” said one senior Tory. “He’s a great campaigner; a terrible administrator. But he doesn’t trust anyone to run it for him.” » | Heather Stewart | Saturday, November 20, 2021
