Can't be led, won't be led Johnson's backbench rebels are incapable of loyalty Rafael Behr
over 3 years in The guardian
The Faragist mode of perpetual insurrection has thoroughly permeated the Conservatives’ DNA
Conservative rebels have been setting the agenda in British politics for so long now that there is something almost quaint about the expectation of loyalty to a Tory leader. Last December Boris Johnson led his party to its biggest election victory in more than 30 years. The gratitude of his MPs, measured in obedience to whips, has not lasted 12 months.
The scale of the election victory is partly to blame for the unravelling of discipline. Johnson’s troops are not afraid of Labour, and obedience to the prime minister is boring. The era has long passed when Conservatives saw the fulfilment of a duty to support the government as its own reward. Continue reading...
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