Just under two years ago, the UK Conservative Party made the ridiculous decision to oust former Prime Minister Boris Johnson. What followed was a disastrous election defeat for our party and a new Labour government.

With mass riots, pensioners set to freeze, people being arrested for tweeting, mass infrastructure projects cancelled, tax rises coming, and Labour capitulating to the unions, I don’t think many of us realised how good we had it under Boris Johnson.

Yes, there were challenges, but those challenges were not ones the UK faced alone.

There was an ambition to level up communities that traditionally have been left behind with bold infrastructure projects that would encourage growth – many of which are now cancelled.

There was far less division, people weren’t being arrested for tweeting, our pensioners weren’t being left to freeze in the winter. Everywhere Boris Johnson went, ordinary people flocked to him. We had great relationships with our allies and we were global leaders – whether it be the vaccine roll-out or our role in supporting Ukraine.

Now we are a laughing stock. Politicians around the world are mocking us for the horrendous crackdown on free speech we have seen under Labour.

Never in my lifetime has this country felt more divided and never has the tension been so apparent – everything feels on edge.

It is absolutely ridiculous that we got rid of a Prime Minister for doing something as simple as eating cake in the office just for him to be replaced by a new government that is watching on as our country falls apart at the seams.

I don’t think many of us truly appreciated or recognised how good life was under Boris Johnson. Too many people were ready to throw him under the bus without thinking what would come next. Boris was a dream compared to Starmer and I can’t help but wish that we could turn back time and keep Boris as Prime Minister.

Not just for my party, but for this country.

I hope the politicians that brought down Boris, many of them now out of a job themselves, sit there and think – was this all worth it over a bit of birthday cake?

Were mass riots, freezing pensioners, tax rises, the crackdown on free speech, and a government run by the unions better than having a man who has repeatedly delivered whether as Mayor of London or as Prime Minister?

Because I don’t think it was. And I do believe that getting rid of Boris Johnson will always go down as the Conservative Party’s biggest mistake – certainly in my lifetime anyway.