i Editor's Letter: Boris Johnson - less a circus act than a fledgling leader

Boris is back. It was the day of the contenders (or pretenders, in several cases) as Cabinet ministers jockeyed to keep themselves in the running to be our next PM. Early days. Several will unseat themselves. And it is far too soon to get excited about a leadership contest. The Chancellor jokes rather unkindly that Labour may beat the Tories to it.

Theresa May's ill-judged and cynical remarks on immigration did herself a disservice. Attacking her own record, claiming that our social fabric is straining at the seams (contrary to what she and the PM have argued previously), leaves her looking foolish. Britain is not a country on the brink, whatever the challenges of migration. She provoked an instant backlash from her own side, and deservedly so.

Boris Johnson, meanwhile, after a muted return to Parliament, was the star turn. He did not hide his ambition, and he revelled in the jokes and bombast, including gentle jibes at the PM and Chancellor. But he also offered the Tory ranks some vision, sobriety amid the gags, defending capitalism and warning his Cabinet colleagues against leaving behind the lowest-paid, while the well-off prosper, again. This banker-loving mayor decried “the gulf in pay packets that yawns wider year by year”. He wanted to show that he isn’t the Tories’ headline circus act, and succeeded.

However. He needs to build his support base in Westminster. Some MPs still complain that the London mayor can seem aloof. Boris is popular among Conservative rank-and-file out in the country, he offers them an adrenaline shot in the heart. But if they are to ever get a chance to vote for him, he must persuade fellow MPs to give him a place on the ballot paper, alongside George Osborne.

He was most arresting yesterday on Europe, pretty much demanding that Britain renegotiate freedom of movement rules: “It should be up to this parliament and this country – not to Jean-Claude Juncker – to decide if too many people are coming here.” Not something Downing Street is asking for – and certainly not a demand that would be accepted in Berlin or Brussels. Boris is reported to be flirting with the Out campaign. If he leaps towards the EU exit, he will be a dangerous opponent for anyone (including the PM) who wants to keep Britain in Europe. More on all that later this week.

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