If Boris Johnson wants to go down in a blaze of glory, he needs to do the unthinkable and resign

There is life after power. Perhaps the prime minister could return to the backbenches, writes Salma Shah

The full scale of the rebellion is known but who was behind the 148 votes against the PM is going to remain difficult to list (AP)

Master strategy has thus far eluded our beleaguered prime minister. Several attempts to shake up his top team have left him no closer to solving the mystery of why his government can’t get a grip. If he has any hope of making a typically Boris Johnson-style comeback from his slim vote of confidence victory, he should revert to his maverick tendencies and resign in order to run in a leadership contest.

Please don’t come at me with your tedious takes about how he’ll never do the honourable thing and leave his post. This is not a suggestion to lobotomise him in the hopes of changing the habits of a lifetime. Resigning would simply upend everyone’s assumptions and create enormous chaos, something he seems rather good at.

The lack of an alternative leader has been a strong and plausible line of defence thus far. Why not put it to the test and see whether it stacks up? Could he reinvigorate his position by wrongfooting disgruntled backbenchers and take the fight to the wannabes? Would he risk it all to gain it back again?