He says he’s best placed to deliver Brexit, slash corporation tax and beat Corbyn. And adds “I am not going to criticise Boris for going to a posher public school than me.”
MPs and activists should be asking themselves a big question: what is it that made him popular in the first place?
A Brexit Party win would have boosted Johnson’s campaign. This victory for Corbyn’s party may also do – though perhaps not quite to the same degree.
A run-off between him and Johnson would risk being seen as a continuation of the “psychodrama” between the two men.
The best way to reach across the divide and attempt to gain the trust of ex-Conservative Remainers, is to accept the inevitable.
The match-up between the two sets of numbers is extremely close.
We need a range of policies, an understanding of the challenges and a solutions-based approach that will unite our Party – and our country.
We don’t know whether they believe it to be prudent or desirable or both – but the message to the leadership contenders is clear.
Also: Welsh and Scottish Labour throw their weight behind EU referendum re-run after poll drubbing; UUP and Sinn Fein leaders in trouble.
The first-past-the-post system is capricious. It protects you until all of sudden, it eliminates you. Ask Scottish Labour.
Ken Clarke summed it up recently when he argued that there was now no chance of Britain being a stable member of the EU.
Exploring how people voted in last week’s election, why they did so, and when they made up their mind is instructive.
“If you don’t leave on October 31st, then the scores you’ve seen for the Brexit Party today will be repeated”, he warns.
Each week, our panel of John O’Sullivan, Rachel Wolf, Trevor Phillips, Tim Montgomerie and Marcus Roberts will analyse and assess what’s happening.