Boris Johnson’s premiership has reached an appropriately messy conclusion

There is no good reason to allow a wounded and rogue prime minister to stay in power a moment longer

Leave with dignity? It’s unlikely the prime minister will ever admit the game is up (Reuters)

Boris Johnson is famous for liking punchy three-word slogans, but the latest fashionable catchphrase “enough is enough” has been his undoing.

It became something of a chorus among Conservative MPs in recent days, and was deployed with devastating effect by Sajid Javid in his personal statement to the Commons. Around 35 ministerial resignations ago, so it feels longer than it is, Mr Javid reflected that he had given the prime minister the benefit of the doubt time and again, and loyally served twice in his government, but eventually the lies and confusions became too much for him. It struck a chord across Westminster.

Enough was enough for a “pile on” during the day, amounting to dozens of cabinet ministers, ministers of state, ministerial aides and backbenchers. A flow of formerly ardent fans, such as Kemi Badenoch, Lee Anderson and Jonathan Gullis, withdrew their support as the day dragged on. Even Priti Patel, for whom Mr Johnson once sacrificed an ethics adviser (it didn’t seem to hurt him), was rumoured to be siding with the rebels. With David Davis, Andrew Bridgen, Steve Baker and, in noises off, Nigel Farage calling on the prime minister to quit, the tumult could not be dismissed as a “Remoaner” plot. By the end of the afternoon even his own freshly minted chancellor, Nadhim Zahawi, was reportedly urging him to quit, a twist of Caligula-like proportions.

The 1922 Committee looks to be moving too slowly to be sure to evict the prime minister in time for the summer recess. Reaching that rubicon would grant Mr Johnson a precious window of opportunity to regain his poise and momentum – and pointlessly extend the agony. Sir Graham Brady, the chair of the committee, has made his representations, but Mr Johnson seems reluctant, as ever, to listen to advice, or even veiled threats.

A new vote of no confidence, which the prime minister will almost certainly lose, should not be long delayed. There is no good reason to allow a wounded and rogue prime minister to stay in power a moment longer. In an answer at the parliamentary liaison committee, the prime minister seemed to rule out appealing to the Queen for another dissolution of parliament and an early election, but there’s reason to fear he might try it on. He is not known for either keeping his word or respecting constitutional convention. To drag the monarch into politics would mark a final Trumpian dishonour to Mr Johnson’s shameful career.

The alternative to backbench rejection has always been to follow the partial precedent of the fall of Margaret Thatcher in 1990, and for the cabinet to prevail on Mr Johnson to go with dignity. They have dithered and delayed for too long, and Rishi Sunak and Mr Javid were right to break the deadlock. The chief whip, Chris Heaton-Harris, has a dual role in this respect, as he must also reflect the balance of opinion in the parliamentary party, but is personally loyal to his chief. In dribs and drabs, cabinet dissent is indeed what happened during the day, either through public resignations or private advice. Faced with the collapse of the cabinet itself, and government through the strike by dozens of ministers, even Mr Johnson should admit the game is up. He cannot spend the summer concentrating on economic growth, his preferred outcome, with half of his ministers and no parliamentary base.

And so the nasty, brutish and short premiership of Boris Johnson draws to its appropriately messy conclusion. Framed entirely by Brexit and Covid, it was also one of the strangest of modern administrations, comparable only with the wartime governments of Lloyd George and Winston Churchill for its focus on existential threats. Contrary to his propaganda, neither of these transcendent emergencies was well managed, and the divisions created by the Johnson government represent a toxic legacy. Partygate devalues the vaccine rollout; Brexit devalues everything else. It was a chaotic, amoral administration. The sooner the prime minister goes off to make some money the better. It won’t be long now.