Betraying old friends, making new enemies: the Tories have lost the plot | Andy Beckett

Treating group after group of voters as expendable is a luxury the Conservatives may not be able to afford

Boris Johnson’s government loves to boast. Often it seems to do little else. Talking up its achievements, real or not, gives the impression of momentum where there is more often chaos and indecision – as there was this week, with the government twice changing its position on LGBT conversion practices. With a prime minister not known for his administrative abilities, and yet many voters and newspapers still invested in the idea that the Tories are the natural party of government, for today’s Conservatives, constant bragging plays a crucial distracting role.

One of the government’s more potent claims is that it represents a wider range of Britons than its predecessors. In some ways, this is actually true. Johnson has a bigger majority, drawn from more parts of England and Wales – if not Scotland – than any Tory government since the early 90s. Most strikingly, he has a more multiracial cabinet than any previous prime minister.

Andy Beckett is a Guardian columnist

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