It is October 2023 and Conservatives cram into the Manchester conference centre for their leader’s speech. Amid triumphal music, the prime minister approaches the podium, ruffles his shock of blond hair, offers his trademark sly smile and begins: “My friends, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted”.
Even after all that has happened, there are Tory MPs dreaming of the return of Boris Johnson. This shamelessly unserious figure, who knew how to win but not how to govern, remains the itch that many in his party cannot stop scratching.
