For the prime minister, who had spent the past 48 hours 4,000 miles away, where he was still gripped by the Downing Street party scandal, the meeting was something of a stimulus. In an hour-long debate on local elections, no one raised the scandal directly with Johnson and the only report was made by an MP who assured him that they had spent the whole day campaigning and had not been on the doorstep even once. “The mood was very optimistic,” said an ally of the prime minister. “It simply came to our notice then
