The Daily Express is calling it “the Boris effect”. Johnson’s election has reportedly caused a “record jump” in the polls for the Conservative party, with the Telegraph gleefully reporting that its prized former columnist has received the largest bounce of any Conservative leader in the past two decades.

Though Tory hopes were dented by the party’s defeat in Thursday’s Brecon and Radnorshire by-election, supporters still believe Johnson is capable of winning a general election – which could happen within months.

And there are those on the newly energised right who feel that, after three years of the dour Theresa May, the sheer force of Johnson’s “personality” or “charisma” – yet to be convincingly defined – could yet bring young people into the fold and unite the country around a hard Brexit. His time as London mayor is often cited as evidence that a brand of socially liberal, business-friendly leadership can be repackaged and sold to younger voters.

They are wrong. The disgust felt at the Brexit crisis that has consumed the past three years is difficult to overstate. The fanatical commitment of the Conservative membership to leaving the EU on 31 October, “do or die”, bears no resemblance to the wishes of the vast majority of young people, eight in 10 of whom want to resolve this crisis through a people’s vote.

Johnson’s new cabinet, packed with Brexit purists, sends a clear message to young people: we do not represent you and we do not share your values. Faced with the choice of winning back support from the Brexit party or reaching out to unite the country, Johnson has unapologetically opted for the former. His cabinet is filled with ministers who are either deluded enough to believe no deal is a good thing or so devoid of principle, they are willing to pretend so in return for a seat at the table.

A recent Barnardo’s report found that more young people think Brexit is an immediate threat to their future than is climate change. When Johnson wrote of the Extinction Rebellion protests in April that he was “utterly fed up with being told by nice young people that their opinions are more important than my own”, few would expect him to think otherwise for our concerns about Brexit.

It has become clearer with each day that has passed since the 2016 referendum that Brexit – in any form – will leave us poorer, our opportunities fewer and our domestic priorities irrelevant amid the long-term political chaos that would follow. The Bank of England now warns of a one in three chance of recession – and that’s even if there is a deal.

The damage to the economy is incontestable, and yet the single most destructive form of Brexit is about to be forced upon us without our consent. No prime minister championing this could even expect acquiescence from future generations, let alone support.

And even if young people were in fact in favour of Brexit, they would still reject Johnson. This is a politician who, regardless of his personal beliefs, is happy to dabble in misogyny, xenophobia and homophobia as far as it appeals to those whose support he needs. This is a man who has described women wearing the burqa as “letterboxes”, claimed “voting Tory will cause your wife to have bigger breasts” and described gay men as “tank-topped bumboys”.

His values are the antithesis of a forward-looking generation who want to see borders eradicated, not reimposed. It is why Stormzy got the crowd to sing “Fuck Boris” during his headline set at Glastonbury in June, and why T-shirts emblazoned with the same slogan have been selling in huge numbers since.

This is a prime minister whose cause is neither Brexit, nor Britain. It’s Boris. Johnson clearly believes that his political survival is best served by ignoring and alienating my generation, and MPs flock to him in the hope he’ll save their seat in the process. We’re under no such illusion: a Johnson premiership leaves our futures at the bottom of the pile. And if he does call a general election he’ll quickly consider the thousands of young people who protested in London on his first day in office a happy memory. Because many, many more will be sure to make themselves heard – on the streets, yes, but at the ballot box too.

• Lara Spirit is co-president of Our Future Our Choice