If you need an MP for a secret mission, make sure it’s not Jacob Rees-Mogg!

Say what you like about Boris Johnson, but politics was much more lively and entertaining when he was around.

Who now has his optimism? Or his colourful way with words? and let’s not forget the electrifying effect he had on the campaign trail, and the idea that anything seemed possible. The Rise And Fall Of Boris Johnson (Ch4) was well-timed, amid speculation that the former Prime Minister might be making a comeback.

But it was also a reminder that his ebullience and charm conceals a complicated personality. ‘People knew he was a chancer,’ said broadcaster and Daily Mail columnist andrew Neil, ‘but for a while it didn’t seem to matter.’

Believe it or not, that was one of the kinder verdicts because this was a portrait that went big on amateur psychology. ‘He is very needy,’ said biographer andrew Gimson. ‘He doesn’t like being alone. He wanted the approval of liberal-minded women.’

U.S. businesswoman Jennifer arcuri, who had an affair with

Boris, spoke of his emotional insecurity and recalled his seduction technique.

‘I really want to date you,’ he said. Playing hard to get, she warned: ‘I’m high maintenance.’

‘What?’ said Boris, alarmed. ‘Handbags and s***?’

Even more serious matters had moments of comedy. When Boris was forming his first cabinet, he asked Gavin Williamson’s advice about possible Chancellors. appoint a friend, he advised.

The Prime Minister replied: ‘I don’t have that many friends in politics.’

When Boris wanted to suspend Parliament, he sent Jacob ReesMogg to Balmoral on a secret mission to seek royal approval.

Was Rees-Mogg the right person for the job? Because the mission stopped being secret the moment that the gangly, bespectacled, very distinctive figure arrived at Heathrow airport.

as we all know, the courts stopped the Government from suspending Parliament, and so he took a characteristic risk and called an election, winning the biggest Conservative majority since 1987. That was his finest hour, but that majority might have been smaller had the public seen the relaxed and amusing Jeremy Corbyn on display here.

The former Labour leader recalled speaking to Boris on the phone during the campaign. ‘My hand is going to be firmly tied to the oar,’ said Boris, ‘driving the boat forward.’

‘If one hand is tied to one oar,’ Corbyn pointed out, ‘the boat will be going round in circles.’

‘Good point,’ replied the PM, who then said something in ancient Greek about boats and circles. That was surely the oddest conversation between party leaders in British election history.

It was left to Matt Hancock to sum up the post-election mood for an end-of-episode cliffhanger (although we all know what happened). ‘There was not a cloud on the horizon,’ he said. ‘We had five years to sort out all sorts of problems. It was going to be great . . . then it wasn’t.’