As the great eye of the Conservative Party swivels its gaze towards the Far East, it’s in danger of missing other threats that are closer to home.
He will have to be more than a kind of North London John Smith if he wants to do more than just profit from the Government’s misfortunes.
If Downing Street doesn’t grip the campaign against Patel by allies of her Permanent Secretary and others, it may spiral out of control.
The Government seems to be gearing up for a big fight over human rights laws in the wake of the Streatham terror attack.
Plus: What Johnson was supposed to do about Iran from Number Ten that he couldn’t do from Mustique is mysterious. I imagine that it has phones and the internet.
During the years when the West sought to draw Iran back into the comity of nations, the ayatollahs backed terrorist bombs, cyberattacks, and drone shootings.
Johnson, Macron and Merkel don’t agree on everything, but they share a common concern about ISIS now being allowed the space to revive.
It isn’t obvious that his foreign policy has been less effective than George W.Bush’s activism or Obama’s passivity. But what’s his aim here?
The death toll that can be laid at his feet is far greater than that attributable to ISIS and Al Qaeda.
He will remember Lady Hale and her swipe over “girly swots”. More pertinently, he will have in mind the court’s constitutionally illterate decision over prorogation.
Our nagging worry is: what about voters who may not want to get Brexit done, but are nonetheless apprehensive about Corbyn and John McDonnell’s tax plans?
Briefing that Johnson will “lock up terrorists and throw away the key” is taking the voters for fools.
They have spent their lives attacking the people who risk their lives trying to protect us from evil and dangerous people. And they lie as they try to cover their tracks.
Asserting the rights of Parliament over the EU is half the European mission. Asserting them over the ECHR is the other half.
Government and Parliament must limit judicial discretion in cases where there is a proven and ongoing risk to the public.