Boris back in the hot seat.

 Boris back in the hot seat.

That was a close shave wasn't it? The blond one from Uxbridge and Eton has survived yet again. The cynics will tell us that the result was somehow inevitable given the lack of any real alternatives. How exactly did it come to all this? Somehow Boris Johnson has brainwashed the entire nation into believing that he hadn't really done anything seriously wrong in the first place. So why apologise for any misdemeanours committed since no law was, in essence, broken and besides this doesn't amount to an unforgivable criminal offence and what would be achieved by locking him in a dirty prison cell anyway?

Yesterday there was what amounted to a vote of confidence but just by the skin of Johnson's teeth. The House of Commons or the House of Comedy in the eyes of Johnson's loyal parliamentary colleagues, conveniently brushed this nasty stain under the carpet and just left everything the way it had been before. He hadn't killed or murdered anybody and he hadn't broken into a bank with a mask over his eyes. Masks of course almost led to his ultimate downfall but none had suffered any lasting pain and it was time to draw a line under this farcical farrago. Nobody was hurt so let's just move on and talk about something else.

For Boris Johnson this has been the most traumatic introduction to the role of being Prime Minister that any of us can remember. The late Margaret Thatcher was stabbed in the back almost savagely and mercilessly, leaving 10 Downing Street with blood dripping from every part of her body. She cried openly and then reluctantly left office forthwith. John Major was ridiculed callously by everybody because of his dull, monotonous demeanour, never the most memorable of orators and just a grey looking Spitting Image puppet that sadly lost him the public vote.

The fact is Boris lives to fight another day metaphorically of course. The brutal ridicule and mockery to which he's been subjected in recent months heightened our awareness of all his faults, foibles, mannerisms and vulnerabilities. On an almost daily basis Johnson has feebly apologised to the nation, making it abundantly clear that he knew he'd crossed every line and broken every law in the book. But that didn't make him the evil villain of the piece and bygones had to be bygones. Get over it and move on was the general implication.

Here we now have a flawed, generally despised public figure who may have been given the benefit of the doubt because nobody with the relevant credentials for leading the country has put themselves forward as an adequate replacement. There is now a feeling of damage limitation, repentance and remorse only papering over the embarrassing cracks. So where do we find ourselves now? We have now a Prime Minister who, if this had been a court of law, would have been accused of both perjury and fabrication and therefore sentenced to a lengthy period behind the bars of one of  Her Majesty's prisons.

The decision made by Johnson's simpering colleagues almost feels like a blessing in disguise. He has been supported by some of his fellow Cabinet ministers but a vast majority of Britain are probably seeing a red mist and perhaps furious. Boris Johnson lied to the people who desperately wanted somebody they could trust. The air of betrayal and deceit can almost be felt. Even some of his most zealous backers may well be fuming and simmering as they digest this travesty of justice.

But the fact is that even the likes of Dominic Raab, Liz Truss, his most fervent ally The Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak and quite a number of others, have now built or re-built bridges with a man capable of only selling his country down the river, misleading them, telling us a pack of lies and then squirming with shame because there was no other way of dressing it all up. 

Tomorrow it'll be business as usual. Once again we'll be told in no uncertain terms to behave as if nothing had ever happened. We'll be lectured and patronised, bombarded with excuses and soundbites, platitudes and general nonsense. We may well be informed that regardless of the reprehensible nature of this whole moral maze, it'll be time to just get back to the wonderful distributions of vaccines for Covid 19, reminded of the phenomenal success rate and the apparent return to normality which can't be denied.

Then we'll be side tracked once again with news of the tragic fatalities in the Ukraine, the displaced and isolated people desperate to find a safe and warm refuge. We should be reminded that there are millions of families with nowhere to live, battered and bruised, broken hearted and grieving for the loved ones they've lost in war. Boris Johnson will quite obviously make us feel very humble and privileged in a Britain that is civilised, polite and well mannered. 

And yet this may come across as condescending waffle from a man who, by his own admission, received a classical education at Eton, lived in a posh home in middle class affluence and then got on his bike and found work as one of his celebrated Tory predecessors Lord Norman Tebbitt. Of course he has a social conscience and he is worried about the environment and global warming, the underclass, the people living on the breadline and those struggling to keep their heads above water.

He even worries about those with mental health issues, the state of our education and Britain's global standing. The truth though may not be quite as palatable and now Britain finds itself in a world where the morality of its politicians will remain under the most severe scrutiny. We must hope that the Prime Minister will wake up tomorrow morning and feels ever so slightly guilty and responsible for his mischievous misdeeds. Sadly this may never happen. Keep going Boris. Your nation will try to forgive you.