Boris Johnson unwittingly plotted his own demise in a Telegraph article written 11 years ago.
The prime minister has been forced to tinker with his top team this week as he looks to stave off a confidence vote and lay the foundations for the next election battle.
After months of being dogged by partygate allegations and a fresh controversy over his Jimmy Savile remarks, Johnson opted to embark on a mini-reshuffle on Tuesday as he attempts to regain his grip on power.
But not everyone is convinced he can salvage his administration.
Billionaire Tory donor John Armitage told the BBC he thought Mr Johnson had “passed the point of no return” in a forthright interview.
“Politicians should go into politics to do good for their country. That is the overwhelming reason to be in politics. I don’t think it’s about your own personal sense of getting to the top of a snakes-and-ladders game,” he said.
Funnily enough, this is a sentiment Johnson himself reiterated in a column penned in 2011 when he urged Gordon Brown to give up the ghost.
Comparing the former Labour PM to Muammar al-Gaddafi, he said:
“When a regime has been in power too long, when it has fatally exhausted the patience of the people, and when oblivion finally beckons – I am afraid that across the world you can rely on the leaders of that regime to act solely in the interests of self-preservation, and not in the interests of the electorate.”
Hard to argue with you on that one, Mr Prime Minister.
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