Originally Posted by Chris

Well we should probably let Putin have that one, he’s had precious little else to celebrate, what with his entire army slowly being ground to dust in Ukraine.

Precedent is an important part of the way this country operates. It creates genuine pressure against reckless or overweening use of power by those who hold it. It’s the reason why there was never any hope of Boris surviving this, despite his obvious personal disdain for it. The entire system runs on it and eventually the pressure was always going to be too great even for him to resist.

It is therefore wise not to upend precedent for short-term convenience. Insisting Boris go now, and installing a ‘caretaker’ for a mere 6-8 weeks, would be a piece of political theatre which in the short term might demonstrate just how really, really cross we all are with him, but in the longer term will chip away at the whole idea of the office being occupied by someone who demonstrably has the confidence of the House of Commons, which is normally evidenced by the largest party having held a leadership election.