Boris Johnson, writer, editor, sometime celebrity and Conservative Member of Parliament for Henley, has been sacked as Tory shadow arts minister and vice-chairman by party leader Michael Howard, just a day after he praised Boris in the highest manner possible. The Conservative spokesman tonight issued a statement which included a thinly veiled attempt to out him over recent allegations. Sunday's papers (14th November) apparently showed that he did have an affair with Petronella Wyatt, an accusation which he had previously called an "inverted pyramid of piffle".

Boris was the only popular minister in politics. The Conservatives, as the party most like to hate in these days of media-led opinion, desparately need popular figureheads to survive. It had only one. Now it has none. The sacking of Boris will only confirm to the public that the Conservatives are becoming irretrievably out of touch with common consensus and astonishingly unaware of the potential for the popular vote, rather than just the cerebral one.

Boris has made an error of judgement. Michael Howard's judgement is even graver - a kneejerk reaction based on earlier kneejerk reactions, opportunistically carried out for shallow reasons. Boris has got more publicity and bonhomie for the Conservative party than Mr Howard can now ever do - and this appears to have all come to naught.

It is really difficult to comprehend how the Conservatives, or indeed Michael Howard, see Boris as more of a liability than an asset. Yes, he has his detractors. So does Tony Blair. So does Michael Howard, in far greater numbers than those of Boris. Boris's bell has tolled in the political world, but we want to make sure that he'll be back, doing so effortlessly what he has done in the past - transcending the class barriers and talking to the public in a language we all understand. For that is the key to winning elections - and that is the key that Michael Howard has just thrown away.

Please do sign this petition to show your support for Boris, and to appeal to Conservative Central Office to reinstate this national treasure to his rightful position in the shadow cabinet.

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