It might surprise you to know, with everything going on in Westminster, that Conservative MPs keep talking about a decision made 173 years ago. Is Boris Johnson, they ask, about to split the Tories just as badly as Sir Robert Peel did when he repealed the Corn Laws in 1846? The answer, emphatically, is no.

When Peel announced he was for free trade, he had no mandate to change policy. He was turning against his own MPs, the majority of whom still supported protection. And the great Tory split came not immediately, but after an election a year later. When the new party leadership promised to reinstate the Corn Laws and won, Peel’s supporters chose to put the Whigs in power instead.

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So it is not Boris who resembles Peel, but the Conservative rebels desperately trying to stop him delivering Brexit. The majority of Tory MPs back Boris, and so do Conservative members and voters. It is not Boris colluding and cooperating with the other side – in Brussels and in Parliament – but the rebels. Just like the 19th‑century Peelites, many are happy to ignore a national vote, eject a Conservative from No 10, and switch their support to other parties.