I fear the time for this warning has passed. It is not a matter of if but when the public ire falls with its full weight upon this prevaricating, ungovernable Parliament.
Many of my friends share your view. I'm take the view that many see as Bercow's faults are primarily the faults of a Parliament that cannot reconcile with itself or with the government.
While I loathe the current Parliament and its spasmodic rejection of the referendum, I do believe that John Bercow served admirably well in his role as an advocate for Parliament against the executive. A pity he was made to serve only ungovernable Parliaments.
This was foreordained when Leave won the referendum. From that moment, the Conservative Party as it was could no longer survive. May directed all of her formidable will towards forestalling the inevitable, and failed in the end. Johnson hasd neither the talent nor the temperament to do the same, but that doesn't matter now. The moment is bigger than the man.
Johnson's true test will be if he can secure and win an election.
The government, such as it is, dissolves on contact with air, on any question besides whether it should continue to call itself the government. The country may be ungovernable in the current climate, but it is inarguably ungoverned.
I take the view that the breakdown of the Blair-Cameron consensus catalysed by the referendum is a good thing for British politics, just as the breakdown of the post-war consensus in the 70s led to the necessary reforms of the Thatcher era. Whether we as a nation can build a new consensus in these polarised times is a frighteningly open question, but I believe it beyond doubt that the old ways were no longer fit for purpose.
But whose mood? In my view, even a disastrous outing would only validate viewers' contempt for either Mr Johnson or the media - whichever way their existing judgments incline. I think the idea that classically polished media performance determines success was always over-rated, and has become severely outdated since the referendum.
By the time of the interview I'd wager the bulk of members will have already voted, and anyway we are weighing rather different criteria. A bad outing with Mr Neil would be embarrassing, but it would not be decisive.
I look forward to seeing Philip Hammond attempting to bring the House down in a manner other than emotionally.
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