In yesterday’s Conservative Home interview, Rishi was at great pains to avoid making a commitment to stop the boats by the next election. He emphasised it was a “complicated problem” with no single solution, and that any fix “won’t happen overnight”. As a reminder for co-conspirators with short-term memory loss, stopping the boats was something he re-committed to, without qualification, in March.

In a press conference, surrounded by “Stop the Boats” messaging, the Prime Minister promised to “keep my promise to you – to stop the boats”. When asked, specifically, if not stopping the boats would be a failure, Rishi said:

“I wouldn’t be standing here if I didn’t think I could deliver on this promise. At the beginning of the year, I stood up in front of the British people and made five promises. One of them was to stop the boats.”

Anyone watching the video of his qualified wobbly comments to ConservativeHome and his unequivocal tone when he launched his 5 pledges will be in no doubt that he has changed his tune. It looks like Rishi went overboard with his previous pledges…