ANTI-JOHNSON CAMPAIGN RAMPS UP.

It seems that there is now a concerted effort to prevent Boris Johnson from winning the race to become the next leader of the Conservative Party and, consequently, Prime Minister.

The actions of his neighbour in recording a supposed argument and then calling both the police and media are hardly normal behaviour. The neighbour is an avowedly left wing, anti-Brexit and anti-Johnson activist and so their actions might be at least partly understandable, if highly dubious. What is less explicable are the comments coming from some of Johnson's party colleagues who are threatening to bring down any government that he might lead, thus betraying their party, their electorate and those who voted for Brexit, as well as paving the way for the advent of an extreme left wing government led by the Marxists, Corbyn and McDonnell.

As an additional bit of supposed media 'scrutiny', the BBC, on today's Andrew Marr Show (perhaps rightly called a show rather than being a serious political programme) we were treated to David Miliband (anyone remember him ?), an arch-Remainer, having his say about the activities of the British government even though he's now forsaken these shores to further his lucrative career as head of some international charity based in New York, followed by Liam Fox, a former arch-Brexiteer who now seems to have morphed into just another unreliable and disingenuous politician. Neither had anything good to say about either Brexit or Boris, the latter, of course, now being a committed supporter of Jeremy Hunt. It seems that the BBC will drag in anyone who has nothing good to say about either Brexit or Boris Johnson, from wherever they originate and whatever views they previously held, as long as it will help the 'anti-Brexit' and 'anti-Boris' campaigns. Pointedly, there was no on the 'show' who overtly supported either Boris Johnson or Brexit in any meaningful form although the good old BBC would no doubt claim that Mr Fox is a Brexiteer - ha, ha. He is a political opportunist, no more, no less.

Boris Johnson is being subjected to character assassination of a type rarely seen except in relation to those guilty of the most heinous crimes, the most evil of dictators (right wing only, of course) and bankers and businessmen deemed to have profited from the exploitation of their workers and customers. While the left wing is also perfectly happy to vilify any political figure of the right who threatens to have a significant impact - Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump, spring immediately to mind - it's not exactly common for both wings to attack someone simultaneously.

The attacks on Johnson's character are now becoming so sustained that they threaten to overwhelm all else. What we need is a debate about the respective political viewpoints of the 2 remaining candidates in the race, not a constant stream of innuendo and bad-mouthing. To his credit, Jeremy Hunt has not, so far, made other than vague comments about his opponent, while Mr Johnson has kept quiet and resisted criticising others. 

It will be interesting to see how Conservative Party members view all of this. Will they be less likely to vote for Mr Johnson or will they actually react against the campaign to discredit him and threaten chaos, and be more likely to support him against the reactionary forces of the so-called 'centre ground' ?

All will be revealed in a month's time.