Has Johnson finally cooked his goose?

So, there we have it. Boris Johnson is confirmed as a liar and scoundrel - so states (effectively) the report of the House of Commons’ Privileges Committee which comprised a majority of Tory MPs including such doyens as Sir Bernard Jenkin and Sir Charles Walker.

Johnson’s response to dismiss all this as ‘a kangaroo court,’ ‘a witch hunt’ and ‘deranged... lies... patently absurd... a load of complete piffle.... and beneath contempt’ is irrelevant. The only meaningful statistic is the recent opinion poll showing 73% of the nation believes Johnson is guilty of lying.

Finally, what anyone who was close to Johnson knew, now three-quarters of the nation accept.

One is left with the impression that Johnson has finally ‘cooked his goose.’ He who won the last general election with a seemingly unassailable majority and was the darling of all Conservatives throughout the nation –including other Dorset MPs in this paper – has slouched off the stage.

Indeed, imagine being one of his last remaining dozen or so sycophantic acolytes. They threatened to deselect fellow Tories who voted to endorse the Privileges Committee report. How they wailed... only for Johnson to instruct them to climb down and avoid a formal vote as he took up his heavily remunerated dieting column in the Daily Mail.

His departure, jumping before he could be pushed by his constituents, was a typical evasion of responsibility, consistent with all his actions as Prime Minister and arguably his entire life.

Now poor Rishi Sunak must deal with the aftermath of yet another political maelstrom and try to persuade the British electorate that what really matters to the Tories are the cost of living, the NHS funding and the mortgage rates.

I see that the latest statistics this week show that the greatest number of mortgagees will have their lenders giving them details of their new terms just in time for the next election.

With rates such as 1.5% being replaced by 7.5% this will mean monthly rates for some being increased by between £1,400 and £2,000 per month!

Sunak himself stated in his first, failed leadership campaign, that the mortgage rate rises will ‘tip millions of people into misery and it’s going to mean we have absolutely no chance of winning the next election’. If only the banks were as quick to pass on higher interest rates to savers as they are to borrowers.

I would just like to finish this week with a mention of that wonderful star of screen and television who left us this week - I do of course mean the former MP Glenda Jackson. A complete master of all she attempted in life; she brought joy and wonderment to our drab world.