Hefty price to pay for trusting Tories, says ANN WIDDECOMBE
NOW that the leadership shenanigans are over we know that Boris Johnson is moving into No. 10.
Brexit will be 'crucial crunch test' for Boris says Widdecombe
Mrs May will have packed up the removal van and be returning to backbench life.
MPs and MEPs will be contemplating the August buckets and spades season and absolutely nothing will have changed except that we now have a PM with the will to deliver Brexit.
Whether the will produces a way has yet to be seen. The parliamentary arithmetic will not alter nor the stubbornness of the same Parliament in rejecting the will of the people.
Only the prospect of a general election and the loss of seats may serve to concentrate minds.
Yet the message stays the same. Vote Tory and get Corbyn. The Peterborough result still shouts that loud and clear, where the Brexit Party lost by a few hundred and the Tories by a few thousand.
If some people decide to trust the Tories again because Johnson has replaced Theresa May – and I understand the temptation – then the inevitable upshot will be that Corbyn will benefit. The only way to keep Jeremy Corbyn out is to vote for the Brexit Party firmly and decisively.
Meanwhile, I face returning to Brussels and an email informs me that my constituents can enjoy a subsidised visit to the European Parliament.
At Westminster it did not matter whether constituents were coming from Highlands and islands or Penzance: MPs had no financial help to get them there.
At least there is something to see at Westminster: Big Ben, historic buildings, the King’s death warrant, the Queen’s robing chamber, ancient architecture, stunning art and sculpture.
The European Parliament by contrast is a vast, impersonal, modern building with nothing to see except a large chamber and a series of corridors.
No wonder you have to pay people to come and look at it.
Outside a collection of flags waves in the air. The sooner that collection no longer includes the Union Jack, the better.