Boris Johnson cheers the faithful with vintage performance – but cameo is too late to save the Tories | Politics News

He still gets it. Boris Johnson may have left late before coming to the party – that is, the Conservative Party – but his 11th hour rallying cry to the Tory faithful was classic Boris and just like old times.

It was the kind of chaotic, chaotic but mind-blowing box office performance he used to give at packed conservative conference gatherings when he was king over the waters and hailed as a rock star by his adoring fans.

Back then he used to upstage and humiliate David Cameron and later Theresa May.

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This time his victim was Rishi Sunakwho Johnson’s cheerleaders accuse of stabbing him in the back and leading the charge to oust him.

And you, Brute? More like Et tu, Boris. In addition to answering the call in the conservatives’ hour of need, he would clearly come to settle some old scores, defend his record and remind the conservative faithful that he hasn’t gone away.

And he certainly did all of that.

But while the conservative activists who showed up at almost 10pm love him, is he still a vote-winner? Or for undecided voters, is he a reminder of the party, vulgarity and conservative chaos?

But he was there on his terms, as he made clear.

Mr Johnson made a point of starting Your speechfrom notes scribbled on crumpled paper, saying he was invited to speak at this rally.

In other words, Sunak begged him to come to his rescue at the end of a disastrous Tory campaign. election campaign. He wasn’t going to offer. He wanted Mr Sunak to humble himself and beg.

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There was not a word of praise for Mr Sunak in his speech. No handshake either.

There may have been other speakers – first Michael Gove and then Mr Sunak – but this was Boris’s show and a one-man show.

Although the Prime Minister gave perhaps his most powerful speech of the campaign when he spoke after him – why leave it so late? It was Mr. Johnson who was the star of the show, topping the list, obviously, and had the Tory faithful chanting his name.

‘After Starmer’s Bedtime’

After a warm-up speech from Mr Gove and then a low-key announcement that seemed to take the audience by surprise, the star took to the stage in an ill-fitting suit, hair disheveled and uncut for weeks and considerably heavier than in his number 10 days.

When was the last time he visited a barber?

He always ruffles his unruly blond hair before a speech. It’s all part of the act. The late Ken Dodd used to do this. Fans would say that Boris the comedian is just as funny as the man from Knotty Ash.

What a mess he looked, though. Not that the public cared. They shouted “Boris! Boris!” just like they did when he was the darling on the conference periphery.

He began – predictably – with a joke about Sir Keir Starmerat the expense of the man he used to call “Captain Crasheroonie Snoozefest” at Prime Minister’s Questions.

He thanked the public “for arriving so late tonight at this location, well past Sir Keir Starmer’s bedtime”. Butt! The Labor leader will have to live with jokes about a 6pm Friday curfew for some time.

“I was happy when Rishi asked me to help,” he said. “Of course I couldn’t say no.”

Well, probably not. But the Red Wall Tories now facing defeat on Thursday will have wished he had responded to the call much earlier in the campaign.

Activating Farage

We received Johnson’s usual defense of his handling of the pandemic and the rollout of vaccines. And he boasted several times, unsurprisingly: “We got Brexit done.” It was “a proper Brexit”, he said, a “Brexit government”.

Perhaps. The public loved all of this, but why are so many conservatives turning to UK Reform if it was a great triumph?

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Then Sir Keir was ridiculed as a “disciple of Jeremy Corbyn” and accused of “taking EU law for dictation” and “poor old Starmer” was “reluctant to explain the difference between a man and a woman”, he claimed .

So he called Nigel Faragesomething Mr Sunak and his senior ministers should have done weeks ago.

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Reform UK was “full of Kremlin creeps” and Putin’s “pet parrots”, he said. “Shame on them!” he declared, to thunderous applause.

And then a typical Johnson joke: “Don’t let the Putinists hand over the Corbynistas!”

Vintage, yes. Funny, naturally. A great showman, definitely.

But is he still an advantage when so many voters seem to want to punish the conservatives for his time in Downing Street, rather than blaming Mr Sunak for the Tories’ failures?

Regardless of what voters think of Boris Johnson, his last-minute appearance almost certainly came too late to save the Conservatives from the heavy defeat that the polls predict.