General election: After Rishi Sunak leads Tories to defeat, party looks set to embrace Donald Trump-style politics – Euan McColm

Trump-fan Boris Johnson remains a hero to many Conservatives

Boris Johnson may have left the political front-line in disgrace but it would be a mistake to think he is no longer without influence. Outside parliament, the former Prime Minister continues to peddle his brand of opportunist populism in a weekly newspaper column and in various interventions on matters of the day.

Inside parliament, MPs still loyal to Johnson continue to speak of his talents. Make no mistake, many Tories would have the ex-PM back in Downing Street this evening if they could. But, for now, those people have limited power.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will continue to lead the Conservatives until the next general election. There may be occasional mutterings about leadership bids, but who would want the job, right now?

Republican presidential contender Donald Trump has fans in the UK, including former Prime Minister Boris Johnson (Picture: Matt Rourke/AP)

Starmer the runaway favourite

The Conservatives’ political fate is sealed. None of those touted as potential successors to Sunak – among them Kemi Badenoch, Suella Braverman, and Penny Mordaunt – has personal poll ratings that suggest their installation as Prime Minster might see off Labour. Why would any ambitious MP try to win the right to lead the Tories to electoral humiliation? There’s kinky and then there’s kinky.

Sir Keir Starmer is the runaway favourite to be our next Prime Minister. The only prize available to ambitious Tory MPs just now is the right to be leader of the opposition in the next parliament. That role looks likely to be taken on by someone from the party’s populist right who’ll play to exactly the same prejudices as Johnson.

Last week, he wrote about the supposed benefits of a Donald Trump victory in the coming US presidential election. Within the House of Commons, MPs such as Jacob Rees-Mogg, Liz Truss, and others held fondly by the party’s members, share that view.

It’s tempting to imagine that these are all yesterday’s people but when Labour regains the political centre, they’ll be the ones shaping the Tories’ future. Nobody requires any great powers of foresight to see the post-general election Conservatives pushing buttons on immigration and flipping switches on Brexit betrayal.

Worst instincts of the right

Labour’s victory, when it comes, will cost many Tory MPs dear but, for those left standing, opportunity awaits. Starmer will not, I think, enjoy much of a honeymoon period as Prime Minister. Voters will be impatient for some proof that Labour is making a difference.

While Starmer strives to show his administration is doing rather than saying, the Tories – under the influence of people who revere Johnson and, like him, think the world needs more like Trump – will be drilling down on those issues, such as immigration, that generate more anger than debate.

The Tories have behaved deplorably in countless ways in recent years. The party has pandered to the worst instincts of the right and repeatedly attacked and undermined our democracy. You would think a humiliating defeat would snap the Tories to their senses. But there will be nobody with any sense left. The Conservatives will become more Johnsonian, more Trumpian.

If you thought Sunak’s Tories were hard to stomach, wait until you see what the party’s going to serve up next.