Gruesome sleaze, collapse of economic competence and a ridiculed leader – history seems to be repeating itself for the battered Conservative Party as Boris Johnson turns into another John Major.
The stench of the Tory scandals and disintegration that helped popular Tony Blair stroll into Downing Street on this day 25 years ago in 1997, the day after delivering a thumping Labour majority, is unmistakably in the air once again.
Old route maps never precisely chart the present terrain and exact roads forward to political power.
John Major could legitimately argue that unlike Johnson he was not a lying lawbreaker and the first Prime Minister to be fined in office.
Or that he battled for Britain’s interests in Europe whereas chancer Johnson inflicted the Brexit nightmare to secure the keys to No10.
And Labour’s Keir Starmer regularly beats Johnson in polls asking who would make the best premier but still lacks the compelling charm and charisma of a young Blair.
Yet some parallels between 2022 and 1997 are increasingly obvious.
Tractor boy Neil Parish watching porn in the Commons, Wakefield’s Imran Ahmad Khan’s conviction for sexually molesting a teenager and Owen Paterson’s cash-for-questions echo the Tory sleazy 1990s.
Deliberately emptying wage packets with tax rises when the prices of energy bills and shopping are rocketing is a political group out of touch again after four consecutive victories.
The NHS is in crisis again and Home Secretary Priti Patel’s claims that hers is the party of law and order when the leader’s a felon and crime has increased is greeted with derision.
Johnson, like Major before him, is cruelly mocked, widely held in contempt and hugely distrusted by most voters.
Thursday’s local council contests will be a mini-referendum on the Tories and Labour across Britain.
Starmer faces an uphill struggle, Labour requiring a swing bigger than Blair’s in 1997 to rule supreme.
He’s right, though, the Westminster sleaze culture cannot be changed with partying Johnson at the top.
With the Tories and Johnson clearly on the slide, Labour emerging as the largest Westminster party at the next general election is a realistic prospect to rule as a minority government or coalition creator.
Much will happen between now and May 2024 in a world that grows more unpredictable by the week.
That Major comparison, however, must terrify Johnson.
