John Major doesn’t think much of Boris Johnson – but he couldn’t say why

The former prime minister has become a national treasure by adopting every conventional view of the metropolitan liberal Remainer elite, writes John Rentoul

Sir John Major emerged, butterfly-like, from his chrysalis, some time ago (Getty)

Sir John Major is the personification of the Brexit realignment of politics. The reviled agent of soft Thatcherism, who presided over sleaze and drift in the 1990s, he has transformed himself into the embodiment of every conventional view of the metropolitan liberal Remainer elite.

He emerged, butterfly-like, from his chrysalis, some time ago, so the impact of his speech today was a bit like that of a butterfly trying to stop the Boris Johnson juggernaut – his criticisms had already been discounted. That meant he had to raise the rhetorical temperature in an attempt to sting like a bee, but that was rather out of character for him, and so he became confused.

In the speech, he said categorically: “At No 10, the prime minister and officials broke lockdown laws.” When he was asked afterwards if he thought a prime minister who broke the law should resign, he said yes, and then that he didn’t want to prejudge the question of whether Johnson had actually broken the law or not.