MARK STEYN ON BORIS JOHNSON: The Long Goodbye.

Boris elevated his sibling to the House of Lords, since when Jo Johnson has been entirely forgotten – and within three months of that devastating loss the older Johnson had won an amazing victory:

Whatever one feels about Boris Johnson (and almost any one who’s had any truck with the man has, if he’s honest, highly mixed views) today’s election is a spectacular triumph for him. On the day Andrew Scheer, the Canadian Tory leader, announced he would be stepping down, the UK Tory leader led his party to their biggest share of the vote in half-a-century and swiped seats held by Labour since 1935 – from Blythe Valley to Bishop Auckland. Both Scheer and Johnson are unprincipled opportunists, but the latter is a fighter who knows how to return the ball and swat it down the opposition’s gullet.

And so he did. And then he utterly squandered an eighty-seat majority. As I concluded that post-election piece:

It would be nice to think that the Conservative Party might now think it safe to offer a bit of conservatism. But that would be too much to hope for…

And so it proved.

Read the whole thing.

UPDATE: Boris Johnson Resigns as Tory Leader amid Cabinet Defections, Scandals.

(Updated and bumped.)