Boris is crumbling. This might seem both paradoxical and unfair, because his incoherence is in tune with public opinion. According to the polls, a majority of the populace is in favour of tougher measures. But when these are imposed, the reaction is often mutinous. Yet people expect a stronger line from their PM. They are allowed to be anxious and afraid. They expect him to lead – which he seems incapable of doing.
Hindsight is an easy luxury, but Boris was given excellent advice at the beginning, which he chose to ignore. The four living former Prime Ministers all wrote to him with the same message. (That was an achievement by somebody: to persuade gloomy, glowering Gordon Broon to come to the help of a Tory PM.) All four told him
