As Boris Johnson jetted in to Gatwick on Saturday morning, the hopes of the nation flew with him: it was just that those hopes, as expressed by formerly supportive newspapers, were that he never goes anywhere near Westminster again.
Rather than welcoming back a conquering hero, the front page of the once-friendly Daily Mail suggested Johnson should humbly meet with his former chancellor, Rishi Sunak, and cook up a plan to unite the riven Tory factions inside the House of Commons and across the country. Quite a change from the days, not so long ago, when Johnson was being hailed as a charismatic leader who had correctly called all the big decisions through the duration of the pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine.
