Theresa May's leadership is weaker than ever if she can't even keep Boris Johnson under control

Johnson's article on Brexit is just another in the Theresa May Incompetency Saga – a series that seems increasingly likely to end with Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party securing power

Johnson’s gaffes on foreign soil have unquestionably dented the reputation of both May and her government abroad (Getty)

When David Cameron resigned in disgrace as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, commentators and an army of critics lined up to point out how his six years in office amounted to the most unsuccessful of any British leader that this country would suffer in a lifetime.

A failed austerity agenda, the Conservative party divided seemingly beyond repair, and Cameron managing to oversee Britain’s exit from the European Union against his will. On 13 July 2016, the era of Cameron was over and his name was resigned to the history books as a wholly incompetent British Prime Minister. How could anyone do a worse job? That was the question being asked by people on all sides of the political spectrum. Enter Theresa May, from the right.

An unelected Prime Minister until she called June’s general election, the vote was an arrogant attempt to consolidate her power which backfired, and she failed the election on her own self-imposed terms. The campaign was characterised by U-turn after U-turn and those fatefully chosen words: “strong and stable”. It’s easy to forget May is only still in Downing Street thanks to a £1bn bung over to the homophobic DUP.

In any other circumstances, May would have been forced from office before the BBC’s rolling election coverage was over, but with no plans in place for Brexit other than the stipulation it be coloured red, white and blue, and a reinvigorated Labour Party in opposition having captured the imagination of a generation, Theresa May has been left in power to rot.

She’ll remain there desperate to achieve something while in office until her Conservative opponents in Parliament can point the finger of blame solely in her direction, not at the withering Tory Party, for the mess this country is in. Theresa May: zombie Prime Minister.

In fact, the only tactical move that May ever warranted praise for since taking office was the way she handled Boris Johnson: appointing him Foreign Secretary, despite being her closest rival for the Tory top job. They say keep your friends close and your enemies closer, and appointing arch-Brexiteer Boris to such a senior position was supposed to keep him under control, and so May and her team could keep tabs on this power-hungry politician intent on taking the keys to Number 10.

Just over one year later and May has even failed to deliver on this front; Johnson’s gaffes on foreign soil have unquestionably dented the reputation of both May and her government abroad. The pay-off for his appointment was always that May’s minions would get wind of any attempts to undermine the Prime Minister. When a 4,000 word tome by the Foreign Secretary was published yesterday by The Telegraph, it became apparent that she and her team haven’t even been able to do that.

“This country will succeed in our new national enterprise, and will succeed mightily,” spouted Johnson in his essay, reaffirming his commitment to flip-flopping by once again promising to funnel funds weekly from the EU to the National Health Service to the tune of £350m. The UK Statistics Authority has already written to the Foreign Secretary to rebuke him for once again misusing statistics – although let’s be honest, nobody would have believed him.

Just like May’s, his approval ratings have also plummeted – hardly surprising given the pair operates similarly in so many ways. But the damage was done: his election-bid edging ever closer. Theresa May now looks even weaker than ever before.

This episode is just another in the Theresa May Incompetency Saga: a series that seems increasingly likely to end with Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party securing power whenever the next general election comes around. In the next few weeks, May will face both a hostile party conference at home and our unimpressed European neighbours, while further U-turns on the public sector pay cap and tuition fees will come to the fore.

With little chance of clawing back credibility, May’s only real task – her chance to secure some sense of salvation – was to leave the Conservative Party in more competent and electable hands than her own. If she really hoped to rescue the sinking ship that is both the Conservative Party and its toxic ideology, the prospect of a Rees-Mogg or a Johnson premiership to follow her own disastrous stint should – quite rightly – do nothing to quell her concerns.

Both May and Johnson are politicians cut from the same ill-fated cloth: U-turners with delusions of both popularity and Britain’s international stature, who’ve curated toxic personal brands from which now they’ll never escape. In the meantime, ask yourself just this question: if May can’t keep tabs on Boris Johnson – with whom she has so much in common – how exactly are we supposed to trust her at the helm of Britain anymore?