Without a strong, united party of the centre Right, Britain could become the battleground of extremism

Anyone who does not want to see an extreme, hard-Left individual who loathes much of the Western world come to power in Britain needs Boris Johnson to be a successful Prime Minister. For by the time we are singing Christmas carols, either he will have been returned to Downing Street or Jeremy Corbyn will be walking through its door.

That means that those Conservatives who, like me, pointed out the severe problems with a “do or die” approach to Brexit on October 31, must often bite our tongues, remind ourselves that he has taken on an almost impossible job and hope he finds his way through it. We should all be doing our best to make sure the Conservative Party can win an election in the short term and provide good government for the long term.

But when a misjudgement is made that is as serious as last week’s withdrawal of the whip from 21 MPs, it is not possible to let it go by without comment or pretend to be supportive. All of us who have been Tory leader have made mistakes, but this one is the most egregious and counter-productive act of self-harm committed by the party leadership that I can recall in my lifetime. If we do not speak out about it, there is little prospect that lessons will be learned.