Most friends of mine who are far better qualified to opine on the subject are sceptical about the value of Freud’s therapeutic methods. Then again, they did inspire Portnoy’s Complaint. But perhaps Freudianism has something to tell us about the current state of the Tory party. The discontented who assembled in Bournemouth on Saturday obviously brought plenty of id and a fair few massive egos. But what about the superego and its role as a moral regulator? That was clearly having no effect on an audience who were longing for Boris Johnson, a man who wallows in id.
Apropos morality, let us consider Jacob Rees-Mogg. Underneath the irony, the elegant manners and the badinage, he is deeply religious and profoundly moral. He would be incapable of disloyalty to his friends, his principles and his faith. Yet he has chosen to give his loyalty to Johnson, a man most unworthy of that gift, who would have no interest in reciprocating and whose relations with others are entirely governed by the needs of his own gratification. Yet Rees-Mogg seems determined to overlook those obvious truths, and to give Rishi Sunak the doubt of every benefit.
