Julie Marson has missed her chance do the right thing

As many of her parliamentary colleagues resigned their government posts, Julie Marson hung in there as Dominic Raab's PPS. Now she has missed her chance.

It is depressingly predictable that Julie Marson continued to prop up Boris Johnson even after some of her Hertfordshire colleagues had resigned their government positions. Even her bestie, Priti Patel had told him to go. Mrs Marson needed to resign her government role before Johnson did but now she has missed her chance to do the right thing. She will be forever tainted with a seemingly unlimited tolerance for dishonesty.

Of course, many of the MPs in Hertfordshire who have resigned their ministerial roles only did so after declaring their full support for the Prime Minister just a few weeks ago but at least they eventually did the right thing.

Cover-up, corruption, criminality and chaos have long been the hallmarks of this Conservative government. From Barnard Castle and care homes' "protective ring" through dodgy PPE contracts to endless cover-ups and breaking laws both international and domestic, Julie Marson had ample time to ponder whether this represents her values. She has clearly concluded it does.

Many traditional conservative voters however feel that this government no longer represents them and their values. In the by-elections in Tiverton and Honiton, Chesham and North Shropshire enough of them felt able to lend the Liberal Democrats their votes to make a difference and this has set the template for replacing a Conservative in a seat like ours. The public was sick of Boris Johnson's lies and law-breaking but Julie Marson has now run out of time to do the right thing. As it looks like local conservative members won't act, it's now up to the voters of Hertford & Stortford whether to keep her or replace her with a Liberal Democrat at the next possible opportunity.