BORIS JOHNSON

Foreign Secretary

A strangely publicityshy visit to Israel in March summed up Boris’s year. On the one hand he is the government’s most-recognisable character both at home and abroad, on the other, Theresa May kept him off the radar and under wraps. Although he has largely been freed from those shackles since the election, it is hard to see what Boris has achieved at the Foreign Office. In the Commons chamber he has been as diplomatic on Israel and the Palestinians as could realistically be expected from a man forced to apologise to so many, so often. While there have been no major achievements there have also been no major cock-ups, which in Boris’s case is perhaps an achievement in itself.

His part-time pursuit — calculating how he can propel himself into Number 10 — has so far yielded few returns. The fallout from Brexit has continued to do him immense damage and his stock is surely lower this summer than last. However hard he tries to present himself as a statesman, it will take years to shake off a decade of jokes, jibes and general mugwumpery.

Keeping a low profile does not come naturally, but if Boris can manage it for the next 12 months he might find himself more electable as the next Tory leader than he is now. But that is a very big “might”. As far as the Jewish community is concerned, it is hard to tell whether we would rather have him fully engaged and regularly commenting on the Middle East, or posted on a six-month oneway diplomatic visit to Papua New Guinea.

GRADE: D