For the first time in weeks, Big Dog had had an uninterrupted night’s sleep. The previous day had gone better than expected, with Christian Wakeford’s defection to Labour having shocked most of his rebellious MPs back into displays – ersatz or not – of public affection for him. Boris Johnson was now daring to believe he might be able to ride out the party scandals and Sue Gray and the Tory party would fail to notice, or just not care, that he had consistently lied about what he had done at every opportunity. Perhaps his luck had finally changed. Or perhaps not.
The prime minister’s first jolt with reality came when the baby-faced assassin, William Wragg, who had already called for him to resign, opened proceedings of the public administration and constitutional affairs select committee of which he was chair. He wanted to make a statement, he said. It had been brought to his attention that a number of MPs believed to be unhappy with Johnson’s leadership had reportedly been intimidated by government whips and threatened – in a direct breach of the ministerial code – with having public money withdrawn from investments in their constituencies.
