We can all agree Boris Johnson is a liar.
(Even this newspaper’s highly paid lawyers agree, otherwise they’d have made me scrub out that first line.)
So, the issue for today is not why the PM and Truth have a more strained relationship than Steptoe and Son.
No, the question is: Does It Matter?
For those who just want to “Get Brexit Done” (as Dominic Cummings is teaching everyone to chant) perhaps the answer is “No”.
Certainly there are plenty who believe any questioning of Boris’s character is nothing more than a political distraction from Brexit. Maybe it is. But the lying question still stands: Does It Matter?
In just the past couple of weeks we’ve had…
Did he grope journalist Charlotte Edwardes at a lunch? She recalls the detail clearly. Health Secretary Matt Hancock says: “I know her to be trustworthy”.
Boris’s boorish former colleague from the time, Toby Young, has said: “Back then… people complained if Boris didn’t put their hand on their knee.”
And yet Boris’s initial reaction was it was “f***ing" untrue.” Yesterday he was sticking to it – even though he reckons he can’t actually remember the lunch.
We’ve also had the claims he gave favourable treatment on trade trips to former model Jennifer Arcuri.
He denies any impropriety. She told several friends they’d had an affair.
Then there are this week’s policy “pledges”… the plan for 40 new hospitals which, within a day, turned out to be six refurbishments; the “extra” money for youth services which is actually less than has been stripped from them since 2010.
And even the claim Boris introduced Oyster cards on the Tube – even though they began five years before he was London mayor.
Not to mention last week we discovered he’d lied to the Queen about proroguing Parliament. Although, as was pointed out, he’s lied to every other woman in his
life – why wouldn’t he lie to the Queen?
And I haven’t got space to go into the lies about affairs, made-up journalism and, of course, that bus.
But still, all of this... Does It Matter?
For those who don’t trust Boris it’s obviously “Yes: because we know truth is the rock on which we are safe amid madness and mayhem.
And for those who’ll trade truth for the hope of finally sorting Brexit? For them it matters even more.
Friends of Boris’ estranged wife Marina this week described his recent behaviour as “an abuse of everyone who has ever trusted him.”
It’s those still trusting in Boris who’ll likely be the next abused.
