True Boris is on show

FOR years Boris Johnson has revelled in being the court jester of politics.

The jokes, buffoonery and bluster disguised his inadequacies and took attention away from his true self – the conniving, self-serving, philandering egotist.

Now we are seeing the real Johnson and it is not pleasant. He is not driven by a sense of public service or a deep-rooted ideology, he is motivated only by ambition and gratification.

His shallowness was exposed when he wrote two different articles, one for and one against, on the merits of Brexit.

His incompetence was revealed as Foreign Secretary when he insulted our allies and endangered the life of British citizen Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

He has whipped up hatred with his “letterbox” slur on women who wear the burqa and made undignified comments about “suicide vests” because he thinks it will appeal to Tories in a leadership contest.

Not once did he consider his remarks would threaten the Northern Ireland peace process and spark a rise in attacks on Muslim women.

This is not statesmanship, it is the politics of the gutter.