Why Boris Johnson’s election win puts British democracy at risk

The Conservatives’ plans will alter how the country is governed – putting more power with the prime minister, writes Sean O'Grady

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It is one thing for a government to win an election; it is quite another for it to start rewriting the very rules that govern our democracy. This, however, is precisely what the Conservatives promise to do.

There are two ways of discerning what the Tories have planned for the next five years. One is to see what they actually say they will do, much of which is to be found on the now-notorious page 48 of the Conservative manifesto. The other is to examine what the Conservatives studiously omit to say, or occasionally ominously hint at.

The manifesto itself is a fairly terrifying document for anyone who cares about such things, and Conservative politicians have been asked virtually no questions about the plans – far-reaching though they are.