Sir Alan Duncan: The Conservative Party is on the edge of oblivion

Johnson’s former Foreign Office deputy on the ex-PM’s bid to block Sunak’s Brexit deal for Northern Ireland

Rishi Sunak is trying to conclude the unfinished business of three former prime ministers, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Theresa May.

None of them managed to resolve the Northern Ireland protocol problem and Mr Sunak has inherited Mr Johnson’s mess.

He must be given the space to fix it without being briefed against and attacked by those who created the problem in the first place.

The Brexit purists need to appreciate that the Conservative Party is on the edge of oblivion and that any further internal division will just push it over the edge.

If they think that banging on about Brexit is politically popular, they are detached from reality.

All they will do is make more and more people vote Labour: it would be an act of suicidal treachery.

This is the moment for party unity not another bout of factional conflict.

It is very simple: get real or die.