Boris the back-seat driver

Boris Johnson’s fall from grace might have added the poetic irony of his position; after all, it was Europe that made him in 2016 and the same sparring partner that undid him in 2023. Throughout his political career, Boris Johnson has used Europe and the EU to further his own interests. But now that the “oven ready” deal has been unwrapped and found wanting by the smart diplomatic footwork of the current prime minister, Johnson is out on a limb.

This self-styled Europhobic booster boaster has become Macavity. Humiliated over the Northern Ireland protocol, investigated by the Commons privileges committee, losing Tory backbench support and hoping, like Micawber, that “something will turn up”. Perhaps it will but surely this is the time for Johnson to take a back seat, or no seat at all.

Graham Lane London