This cabinet of accomplices has calculated that loyalty is doing their careers more harm than good
What took them so long? The chancellor and the health secretary have gone. Others may have jumped before the ink is dry on this, kicking themselves for not taking the lead as this cabinet of accomplices finally calculates that loyalty is doing their careers more harm than good. Late, too late, they conclude that protecting Big Dog for one more catastrophic Today programme interview will finish off their chances for good.
Are these the end of days for the prime minister? The party may yet need to prise his fingers off the cliff-face before he crashes to the Tarpeian rock. Health secretary Sajid Javid was first off the mark, so chancellor Rishi Sunak was pipped to the post by a few minutes. Javid writes that the country needs a “strong and principled Conservative party”. Yes indeed, but the country needed this through every scandal that has engulfed Boris Johnson.
Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist