Liberal Democrats, if you really want to topple Boris Johnson you need to back off in Uxbridge

The Lib Dems and Greens aren’t running much of a campaign in the PM's constituency, yet together they're projected to eat up 10 per cent of the vote

In chess, you win if you take out the king. In our parliamentary politics, it’s not quite so simple – but kicking Boris Johnson out of parliament would be still be a magnificent victory for pro-referendum voters.

In the gloom over last night's YouGov poll predicting a 68-seat victory for the Tories, there are still some glimmers of hope. One is that the prime minister himself is vulnerable in his seat. He is projected to get just 51 per cent in Uxbridge, while the pro-referendum parties are forecast at 48 per cent.

Now unfortunately, the anti-Johnson vote is split: Labour is on 38 per cent, with the Liberal Democrats on 7 per cent and the Greens on 3 per cent. So unless they club together the prime minister will sail to victory.

This is a micro version of what is happening across the country. Nigel Farage has largely given up the fight. As a result, Johnson is forecast to get 55 per cent of all MPs despite the fact that the Tories plus the Brexit Party are only projected to secure 46 per cent of the public vote.

But this crisis doesn’t have to become a tragedy. Even at this late stage, we can take Johnson out in Uxbridge if the Lib Dems and Greens back off and instead lend their support to Labour’s Ali Milani.

It’s too late to actually pull their candidates from the ballot paper, but public statements backing Labour would electrify the campaign in the PM's constituency. The voters would start to believe they could topple the king. They would fight with extra vigour. Young voters, in particular, could turn out in record numbers.

It might be said that the Lib Dems and Greens aren’t running much of a campaign in Uxbridge anyway – and that pro-referendum voters don’t need endorsements to figure out that Labour has the best chance of winning. But they are still projected to scoop up a vital 10 per cent of the vote between them.

What chance, though, that the Lib Dems and Greens will put the national interest first? Aren’t they so tribal that they will fight hopeless campaigns just to deny Labour a victory?

Well, the Greens have often been prepared to see the big picture; but it’s true that the Lib Dems can be narrow-minded. They put a new candidate into Uxbridge when the previous one pulled out citing the ill-health of family members. They also parachuted one into Canterbury when their candidate quit because he was worried he would split the pro-referendum vote and let the Tories win.

Jo Swinson must not be a dog in a manger. The Liberal Democrats can’t topple Johnson themselves, so she shouldn’t stop Labour doing the job.

If she calls off her troops in Uxbridge, she will share in the kudos of any victory. She will also show she can rise above petty politics. That’s what lots of her voters and donors will want. Many have backed the party in recent years because they want to stop Brexit - not because they want a few extra votes here or there.

"It’s not fair," some will cry. "Why should the Lib Dems back Labour, when Jeremy Corbyn is never going to help them?"

True, Labour is even more tribal than the Lib Dems, but if Swinson makes the first move, she will embarrass Corbyn – and he’ll be under great pressure to return the favour. The obvious quid pro quo is the Surrey constituency of Esher & Walton, where Dominic Raab could be kicked out if the pro-referendum parties club together. The foreign secretary is projected to get 49 per cent of the vote by YouGov, with the Lib Dems on 39 per cent and Labour on 11 per cent. Add them together and the pro-referendum parties are a nose ahead.

InFacts, the pro-Remain organisation that I chair, has today launched a petition calling on the Lib Dems to back off in Uxbridge to bring Johnson down. If they do, we will immediately launch a petition asking Labour to back the Lib Dems in Esher so they can kick Raab out.

Wouldn’t it be fantastic to take out the Tories’ two top guns? This is a time to break taboos, not a time for tribalism.

Hugo Dixon is chair of InFacts