Battle of the toxic Tories

Now that the race is down to six runners, the party is worrying that the final showdown, likely to be between Johnson and Gove could be very bad indeed.

You might remember Gove sabotaged Johnson's bid in 2016 which saw May become PM unopposed. The likelihood is that Gove will have more dirt with which to scupper Johnson's campaign. I mean, there's already enough in the public domain to show he is unfit for any public office, let alone PM, but that's not the way politics anywhere works, is it?

So, the party might try to get five of the runners to back out, through fair means or foul, to create a procession for Johnson, or Gove. Promises of cabinet posts might help this, of course.

But with Johnson, he has such a disaster area with unforced gaffs and errors, that anyone who would want to, could end his campaign. But then, people who still support Brexit despite all evidence that it is economically illiterate and being carried out in such a shambolic way, will overlook the repeated errors that litter Johnson's career.

What they might not overlook, however, is the thought he might just be saying anything to get elected. If that's the case, what would he do once PM; stick to a no deal Brexit, or turn 180 degrees?

As ever, the weekend politics shows, and the Sunday papers might reveal the manoeuvres in the background.

We shall see.