It’s becoming increasingly hard to write a political column that is current, considering we file these about a week ahead of publication.

What is there left to say about the Conservatives? It’s like watching a slow-motion car crash, but one during which there is also a competition to see how many clowns can squeeze into the crashing car and pick up a ministerial salary. Who is left to have a go driving it, before it utterly wrecks itself, and the country with it?

Stuck in the boot of this tragic farce is you, dear reader.
Maybe you’re struggling with an increase in your mortgage. Perhaps you can’t afford to put the heating on. Or you’re worried about the security of your pension. We are the hostages in this unfolding calamity.

Well, now it’s Rishi Sunak’s turn to have a go in the driving seat. His cabinet reads like the cast of a pantomime – C-list, discredited has-beens. Take Suella Braverman, who had to resign for disclosing secure, sensitive information. Mere days later, she is reinstated by Sunak in exchange for backing him in the latest leadership contest, and bringing her hard-right disciples with her.

‘Grubby deal’ doesn’t begin to describe the depths some people will steep to, to keep chauffeur cars and privileges. I don’t think there were 24 hours been the foreign secretary James Cleverly backing Boris Johnson’s return, before having to about face when it turned out Johnson did not have the requisite support, and then present Sunak as the messiah.
Back to the pantomime – I wonder how Christchurch MP Christopher Chope is feeling right now? He stuck his neck out to defend Truss’s tax policies as the pound crashed and borrowing costs spiralled. Mr. Chope is so unpopular in his own party (remember when he blocked the members’ bill against upskirting?) that the whips didn’t even send him the memo to stay away from the media as Truss’s tax U-turns were imminent.
I bet Mr Chope wishes he could erase from the annals of history his column from just the last issue. It must be painful, but let’s remind everyone nonetheless: ‘Few would contest the wisdom of [Liz Truss’s] policy.’
Oh dear… just the global markets who condemned her policy as profoundly incompetent, let alone unwise.

I put it to you, Tory MPs of Dorset, that your party has lost the plot. That even some of you wanted to bring back a proven, unrepentant liar as leader is a case in point. It’s time for a General Election, to bring in a party that is united, has a plan for government, and can restore the UK’s economic and international credibility. It’s time for a Labour government.