Former prime minister Mr Johnson has dissected his party’s performance in his Daily Mail column, saying the reasons why the Tories lost so many MPs were “complex” - but “the Yucatan asteroid in this catastrophe was obvious: it was Reform”.
Mr Johnson claimed to have heard from one Tory MP who “fully expected to win” but realised at the last minute “thousands” of Tory voters were opting for Reform, which in turn gave Labour a majority over both rivals.
“Repeat that phenomenon across the political landscape, and you begin to grasp the cause of the landslide,” he added, before turning his attention to Mr Farage.
He wrote: “I am afraid that the cheroot-puffing Pied Piper of Clacton has played a significant part - as he no doubt intended - in the destruction of the Tory government.”
Mr Johnson then offered advice for the Tories, while alluding to his own exit from Downing Street in June 2022.
“When we get back in, don’t be too hasty to get rid of successful election-winning leaders,” he said.
“As I never tire of telling people, some polls put us only two or three points behind, in the days before I was forced to resign in what was really a media-driven hoo-ha.”
I know that they’ve been in power for 14 years, but the writing was on the wall for the Tories when they chose May. She empowered the right, and allowed BoJo to not only seize control, but to utterly purge the party of actual conservatives. Now that the Tories have been decimated, many of the established names in the party that were favourites to lead from both the right and the central ground lost their seats. The worst thing the Tories ever did was push the Brexit vote and then subsequently let the right get power, as they now face an existential threat for an entire generation.
For the Americans here, this is the one silver lining of Trump. In the same way that the surprise of the Brexit vote signalled the rise of Trump, you could potentially look at how the cult of personality around Brexit destroyed the Tories and see parallels to the Republicans. They’ve tied themselves solely to Trump, and if he were to lose there’s no real candidate that could realistically unite the country AND win the support of Trump (who will probably run again in 4 years time). He’s cast a shadow that has eclipsed the growth of right-leaning politics, damaging conservatism for the future.