Boris Johnson's U-turn shows the assault on liberal values is faltering | Martin Kettle

The free school meals debacle is a sign the party is turning against Dominic Cummings’ influence

Harold Wilson – who lost his only election as Labour leader half a century ago today – once said a week is a long time in politics. If that was right, then how long is an entire year?

Eleven months ago, the Conservative party looked into the abyss and decided Boris Johnson was the right answer to its (and Britain’s) problems. It did this because most Tory members, though not most Tory MPs, thought he would deliver the hard Brexit they favoured, and be electorally popular.

Related: Incompetence is a built-in feature, not a bug in Boris Johnson's government | Rafael Behr

Johnson appears to have evacuated the middle ground and, at Cummings’s direction, pitched his tent on the right

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