Last ditch? Car-crash fortnight shakes Tory faith in Boris Johnson

Morale low as scandals and doubts on policy delivery add to worries about PM's competence

A shame-faced Boris Johnson told his own MPs this week that he had crashed the car into the ditch" by misjudging the Owen Paterson scandal. As he heads to his country retreat of Chequers this weekend, some at Westminster have begun to wonder if he has what it takes to get the show back on the road.

As well as exposing Johnson's lax approach to probity in public life, the Paterson debacle highlighted what those who have worked with him say is one of his most maddening characteristics - the impetuous style of decision-making and tendency to sudden reversals cruelly caricatured by Dominic Cummings as like a shopping trolley".