The chances of Boris Johnson making a move against the oil giants are very high

Given the PM’s current plight and local elections coming up, BP and Shell will be wondering how much will they be clobbered, says Chris Blackhurst

The PM will be looking for measures that will shore up his plunging popularity (Getty)

There was a point in the 2015 general election campaign when the Tories were blindsided. It was when Labour unveiled a plan to limit energy bills. For a moment the needle swung heavily in Labour’s favour.

Conservative pollsters found that their own supporters, let alone potential defectors from the other side, were enthusiastic about the idea. Tory leader David Cameron accused his opposite number, Ed Miliband, of wanting to “live in a Marxist universe” but lo and behold, in the 2017 Conservative manifesto there was the proposal to allow the regulator, Ofgem, to impose a price ceiling for customers on standard variable tariffs.

It was a lesson learned and not forgotten. Which is why the chances of Boris Johnson making a move against the oil giants, Shell and BP, while consumers grapple with soaring energy prices, seem very high indeed.