The arch-backstabber is back. According to the bookies, Boris Johnson will likely be the next leader of the Conservatives. The former Mayor of London, and everyone’s favourite pretend-buffoon, has seen his odds tumble from 66/1 to 7/1 for the leadership. Could Johnson really plough through yet another rival to gain power? Would a BoJo premiership be a good thing for the Tories?

In any case, Theresa May cannot continue as Prime Minister. “The buck stops” with her, writes Kate Maltby. May had the choice to ‘detoxify’ the party, but instead chose to heed the ill-judged advice of her media guru Lynton Crosby and a group called Conservative Voice - the founders of which include David Davis and Priti Patel - who argued that the Tory party need not concern itself with modernisation. May sowed the seeds for the catastrophic electoral failure we witnessed last night. Senior Tories know that May is too weak and too humiliated to continue. So they are looking to the future.

Senior figures believe that the Conservative future is with the mugwumping Boris Johnson. It seems Johnson himself continues to be his own biggest fan, and following May’s electoral losses, the Foreign Secretary (how?! why?!) refused to support the Prime Minister, playing coy for the cameras.

“He is ruthless, dangerous, and a likely asset to the Tories.”

Could Johnson really lead parliament’s biggest party, let alone the entire country? Many clearly think so. He showed leadership in the EU referendum campaign, though many suspect it was simply a canny career move. He is ruthless, dangerous, and a likely asset to the Tories.

Why would Johnson succeed where May failed so catastrophically? Leading Tories lamented May’s “dreadful campaign” of negativity, her stiffness and lack of personality. As Alistair Campbell questions, “And they thought they could build a cult of personality around this?”

Like it or not, Johnson’s idiosyncratic use of language (see ‘mugwump’), unusual appearance (see his Trump-esque hair) and inexplicable appeal would be a huge asset to the Tories in the next election.

This is also why we progressives should fear, and fight Boris Johnson. His is a far more insidious evil than Donald Trump, who is not putting on any appearance - he really is that calamitous.

‘Crush the Saboteurs’, says the Mail. But is May as strong as she likes to appear?

When he likely succeeds Maybot as leader, Boris Johnson must be shown to be what he truly is: a dangerous, manipulative populist, and a ruthless careerist