Five Most Popular Posts in January

Boris Johnson has weathered the stormy month of January. As has this blog, so what tickled the fancy of the public?

1. Jeremy Corbyn's Prospective New Party
2. Arise Sir Tony
3. On Operation Save Big Dog
4. Why I'm Sick of Robert Halfon
5. Dismissing the True and Fair Party

An eclectic mix of picks from the jolly old audience in January. Adding to the speculation by speculating about a speculative Jeremy Corbyn-led party was always going to top the chart. TL;DR version - it's probably not going to happen and there are serious obstacles to success, not least from some of the small but noisy forces it would attract. Following up was another favourite character of this blog, Sir Tony Blair, and the constitutional politics behind his reward for services rendered. Hanging around in third place are Boris Johnson's current difficulties, and particularly the strategy behind his survival plan. It's working so far. Sticking with the Tories, "moderate" anti-masker Robert Halfon needed taking apart for his faux concern about children's welfare when this is obviously a cover for his and his colleagues' personal discomfiture when it comes to mask wearing. And as grim times always need light relief, along came Gina Miller with yet another new centrist party to capture our imaginations. Or not, considering no one but the press turned up to its launch.

Johnson has spent January pleading with his MPs for a second chance. Unlike him, here are a couple of posts that deserve one. The first is this longish piece on the Tory war on universities and why they have it in for higher education. And then there's last night's missive on the Gray "update" and how the situation in cabinet and the parliamentary party sees Johnson hanging on for now.

There's lots of stuff happening I haven't had the chance to talk about yet: Ukraine, the latest Blue Labour intervention, Gove and levelling up. There won't be a shortage of things to write about in February.