Oliver Dowden: the Tory fall guy who was Cameron’s ‘undertaker’

“We need to be honest. We are in deep peril. Not difficulty. Not a bump in the road. The Conservative Party is facing an existential threat.” Those were the words of Oliver Dowden, who resigned this morning as party chairman.

But these comments, which would not be out of place today, were made in 2019 when the then junior minister wrote for The Times alongside Rishi Sunak and Robert Jenrick, backing Boris Johnson as the only viable solution.

All three were eventually given cabinet jobs. Now Sunak is the only one left and Dowden’s support of Johnson is in doubt.

Three years ago Dowden said Johnson was the only “logical answer” and would provide “excitement and hope” about what the party could do. In