Cost of political disengagement: Indifference opens door to tyranny

The possibility that Boris Johnson might greet President Donald Trump as UK prime minister when he arrives in this part of the world cannot be discounted. What an appalling vista; what a victory for shamelessness and what a crushing defeat for the belief that politics is the agreed process to advance towards a brighter future that eventuality would represent.

Johnson’s elevation is far from certain even if it is certain that Theresa May has reached the end of the road. There are other ambitious Conservatives — Gove, Hammond, Hunt or even Leadsom — but it is impossible to predict what an angry, divided, stubborn, insular and fixated Conservative party might do. Rational assessment guided by any kind of moral compass seems almost a memory for a party whose influence once reached far beyond its natural bailiwick.