Philip Hammond’s fiery defence of the Tory Party has cemented him as Batman to Boris Johnson’s Joker – but will he win?

Boris Johnson is the Joker. Never has British politics seen a better embodiment of the malevolent and nihilistic clown of DC Comics fame ahead of his much-hyped solo film, to the cost of all of us.

Those despairing at the appalling misrule of the country courtesy of him, his henchman/puppet master Dominic Cummings and their cabal could be forgiven for wondering where Batman is when we need him.

Maybe he's emerged. Step forward Philip Hammond.

On the face of it, there could scarcely be a less likely candidate for taking on the mantle of the caped crusader than the former chancellor of the exchequer.

Hammond earned the nickname “Spreadsheet Phil” while occupying No 11 and seemed to positively revel in it. He embodied a certain grey competence, which is not an insult by the way. Britain could arguably do with a little more of it given the state it has been driven to.

But there was nothing grey about his Today Programme interview this morning, during which there were shades of the Dark Knight’s icy fury.

The leading Tory rebel rained blow after blow down upon his foe, or rather, his foes. And they hit home.

Using his bat-scalpel, he excoriated the Johnson Joker government for having no negotiation strategy or even a negotiating team. The clear implication was that the leaks suggesting that Cummings views the “talks” as “a sham” are correct and that the government is actively pursuing no deal. In which case the joke will be on the entire country.

He also lambasted the firing of his former aide Sonia Khan, who was escorted out of Downing Street by a gun-toting plod on the orders of “Don” Cummings.

And he warned that should the Johnson-Joker attempt to follow through with his threat to bar him from standing as a Conservative, a Sword of Damocles hanging over the heads of all the rebels who back the latest cross-party attempt to frustrate a no-deal Brexit, he’ll be in for the fight of his life at the next election.

‘‘This is my party. I’ve been a member for 45 years. I will defend my party against entryists who would turn this party into a narrow faction,” Hammond said. About time too.

This was no idle threat. Listen to the tone.

Hammond is a Tory, or at least he’s what we used to know and understand as a Tory in the days before the entryists he spoke of grabbed hold of the party in an attempt to tip the country over the edge.

He believes in the things that Tories are supposed to believe in: Low taxes but also sound public finances, British institutions, the rule of law, the nation state and the Union. Upon his appointment as foreign secretary by David Cameron, he was, in fact, considered something of a Eurosceptic (as was Dominic Grieve, by the way).

He hasn’t changed much. It is the party that has, ever since Cameron made perhaps the worst decision in British political history in calling the EU referendum.

Doing the rounds yesterday were but 20 or so names of the more or less declared members of the Rebel Alliance, (pop cultural references abound at the moment) out of more than 300 Tory MPs.

That speaks to the degeneration of their party into an extreme nationalist sect propped up by cynical careerists (I see you Matt Hancock, Nicky Morgan, Amber Rudd).

The ranks of those who can still claim to be serving as Conservatives are declining at a rapid pace. Just before Hammond spoke, his former government colleague Justine Greening became the latest moderate to announce her intention to stand down at the next election.

Does Hammond’s fight stand much of a chance? Even the Batman, with all his experience of fighting against odds, might baulk.

To avert the imminent crisis and save the country from the Joker’s wrath, it will only require sufficient rebels… sorry… it will only require sufficient Conservatives to stand alongside him. There may be just enough.

Saving his party will be a lot harder.

But don’t underestimate Britain’s Batman. Or should that be BatHam?