The protracted clusterfarce that is Brexit is lurching towards a potentially catastrophic climax that risks carnage for Britain’s historically dominant Conservative Party, diminishing the UK’s influence in global affairs and harming millions of Britons by shackling trade and economic growth.

The probable elevation of Boris Johnson by a majority of his Tory parliamentary colleagues is unlikely to ease these fears.

Mr Johnson is an expedient populist and his plan is a blunt one that is ill suited to negotiating the complexities of honouring a narrowly won referendum to quit the European Union.

Boris Johnson says he is prepared to simply crash out of the EU and deal with the consequences.Credit:AP

There are several rounds of internal winnowing to go before the Tories put to their 160,000 members a choice between two candidates. But the appointment of a new prime minister – unelected by the people – is highly unlikely to change the fundamental issue that the UK will almost certainly be out of the EU by the end of October.

The Conservative Party was slaughtered in the recent European Parliament elections, registering just 9 per cent of the vote, and its support within the UK has slumped. Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party did only a little better with 14 per cent.

The next British election is not scheduled until 2022, although there is every chance one could be held this year. Whatever the case, the Tories’ chances are looking shaky. Mr Johnson, whose bumbling image is mostly an act, is equipped with a good brain and rat-cunning, if a questionable moral compass. His campaign to be leader rests on his promise to leave the EU by October 31, the date European leaders set in April when Britain’s Parliament couldn’t settle a lengthy deadlock over Theresa May’s compromise Brexit deal.

Mr Johnson says he is prepared to simply crash out of the EU and deal with the consequences, including being shut out of the common market at a time when co-ordinated policies are crucial to deal with issues that cross borders – fair trade, freedom of movement and the membership of international policing bodies.

That might be an ostensibly attractive stance for this punch-drunk community, but it is as menacing as it is beguiling. The EU has made it abundantly clear it is weary of the UK’s political paralysis and is unlikely to allow any further extensions or concessions. Britain owes $US50 billion ($73 billion) to its former continental partners for abandoning the European project.

But Mr Johnson has not even outlined, let alone detailed, how he would proceed, and is avoiding public scrutiny in order to minimise the chance of having to answer questions on the matter. This is a flimsy platform upon which to seek national leadership.

Britain faces its greatest test since World War II. Its new prime minister will need to exercise better judgment and far greater skill than his predecessors managed in order to navigate the great complexities that lie ahead. The once-great power needs a leader who can somehow stabilise Westminster and work through a series of difficult compromises with Brussels.

Mr Johnson’s track record suggests he may well not be the person for the job. The problem is that it is proving impossible to identify anyone who is.

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