The Debatable Land #7: Theatre of the absurd

The rules of drama demand a sacrifice and only Boris Johnson will do.

Hello and welcome to the latest edition of The Debatable Land. This week it is dominated by a single story for all is not well in Downing Street and this is the only show in town this weekend. As ever, thanks for subscribing and if you felt like encouraging others to sign up that would be a very lovely thing for you to do.

A time for sacrifice

Let us begin with wisdom from David Hume: “When in a faction, [people] are apt, without shame or remorse, to neglect all the ties of honour and morality, in order to serve their party.” Well, quite.

The Conservative party is hardly the only political party to specialise in defending the indefensible but the limitations of the need to do so have rarely been so publicly displayed as has been the case this week. The public can see the truth and the spectacle of Tory cabinet ministers and MPs declaring, in the face of all evidence to the contrary, that the prime minister remains fully clad would be hysterical if it weren’t quite so pathetic.

We must,…