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Boris Johnson's PR nightmare will have many Cnservatives concerned about his ability to lead

08:48, 06 September 2019

updated: 08:59, 06 September 2019

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Everyone - even politicians - has the odd bad day at the office but not everyone endures them in the full glare of the public spotlight.

Boris Johnson had a particularly torrid time yesterday in a slow motion PR car crash that raised questions about his political deftness and ability to think on his feet.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson had a torrid day Picture: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire
Prime Minister Boris Johnson had a torrid day Picture: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire

If it wasn't quite as bad as being trapped on a zip wire waving a flag, it was a day of setbacks that piled on the pressure on the Prime Minister as he continued his unofficial election campaign.

We are far from the point at which his own party considers him to be more of a liability than an asset but his public discomfiture in the face of impromptu confrontations with voters has raised a few eyebrows.

His rambling and incoherent speech against a backdrop of uniformed police officers probably had the same effect on party supporters as the appearance of the daleks on children watching Doctor Who: up and down the country, people were scuttling behind the back of their sofa waiting for the nightmare to end.

For many Conservatives, he was supposed to be the politician who had the ability to connect with voters and had the necessary guile to steer the UK towards Brexit - skills the former PM singularly lacked.

He may yet do so but if he continues to have many more calamitous days like yesterday, he will start to lose the confidence of his own MPs and supporters out in the country.

His one consolation may be that while he is floundering in choppy political waters, so too is Labour which is tying itself in knots over the timing of a general election.

As has been said many times, the only certainty in politics these days is uncertainty.

Head to our politics page for expert analysis and all the latest news from your politicians and councils.

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