Invictus: The bedwetter Tory MPs who panicked over Cummings need drying out

The minority of Tory MPs who have publicly criticised Dominic Cummings and by implication the Prime Minister fall into four broad categories.

The first is the rump of Remainers who cannot forgive Cummings for masterminding Brexit.

The second is a faction within the European Research Group who Cummings marginalised during the referendum campaign in the belief that their ardent advocacy wouldn’t attract the swing voters needed for victory.

The third is an assortment of grandees who have clashed with the sometimes rebarbative Cummings in the past. They all know who they are.

However, it is the fourth and final category that should give most cause for concern. These are the MPs, many of them new and in marginal seats, who Guido Fawkes elegantly labelled Bed Wetters.

They are not battle-hardened veterans of struggle, used to post bags bulging with abusive letters or sharp words shouted in the street.

Nor do they fully understand one of the iron rules of Parliamentary politics: the reputation of an individual MP makes almost zero difference to his or her performance in elections. The party label is everything – save in the most exceptional circumstances.

There is something slightly tragic in the sight of young MPs who owe their seats in Parliament to the campaigning brio of Boris Johnson and the strategic brilliance of Cummings queueing up to distance themselves from the duo in the vain hope that this will appease their critics and assist their re-election.

In fact, the opposite is true. The more they trash the brand and divide the Conservative Party, the harder they make it to get back on track.

Some will protest that they are speaking up fearlessly for what they believe to be right. That may be true in a few cases, but one cannot fail to notice how often they refer to ‘a thousand emails’ or ‘listening to the anger of constituents’. If this is a matter of conscience, then the opinions of others should be irrelevant.

The reality is that although the next election is four and half years away, these naive and somewhat flaky individuals lack the character and fortitude to deal with the inevitable unpopularity that any reforming government must face.

Today it is Cummings. Tomorrow it will be something else that upsets voters. If they succumb to the temptation to break ranks and ask the crocodile to eat them last they will all be consumed.

Let’s hope the whips treat this incident as an early warning, and make it clear to the Bed Wetters that if they think it’s acceptable to declare independence whenever politically convenient, they will share the fate of the whipless rebels in the last Parliament and not be reselected as Conservative candidates.

Don’t wait until rebellion becomes habitual. Use tender words to educate those who are merely inexperienced and frightened, but make an example of the most egregious offenders. This Government has too many important tasks ahead to allow itself to be held hostage by a self-indulgent minority within its own ranks.