The Right Dishonourable

Rory Stewart has seemed quiet since he stood down his campaign to become London mayor. The former Conservative leadership contender – and, by implication, prime ministerial contender – had argued that an independent run would be unfair on volunteers after the election was delayed a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Judging by an interview with PoliticsJOE, Stewart has been occupying himself with a trip to Afghanistan, a country he has a long history with. And he’s also written a few choice words about his former leadership rival Boris Johnson, in a Times Literary Supplement review of Tom Bower’s latest biography.

Since Tuesday I’ve spent hours every day refreshing pages. The New York Times, for the potential progressive meltdown. FiveThirtyEight, for its smug vindication. And of course the BBC, which is ‘projecting’ the final outcome of the US presidential election just as everyone else does.

British politicos’ infatuation with American politics is well documented. Other than the homeland, it is the country we cover most on our podcast, and plenty of political nerds here follow events stateside compulsively. Washington can’t fart without London sniffing.