Number 10 can breathe a sigh of relief today after Boris Johnson escaped a criminal investigation into his private life.
The last thing Downing Street needed was a protracted and potentially salacious probe into the Prime Minister’s private life as he leads the UK response to the global pandemic with an economy hanging in the balance.
But the police watchdog announced today it would not be proceeding with an investigation into allegations that the PM used his position as Mayor of London to benefit the American former model Jennifer Arcuri.
When the story broke last September, the Prime Minister was battling to get a Brexit deal through a bitterly divided House of Commons.
The press published photos of Ms Arcuri scantily clad and pole dancing and two weeks later the businesswoman broke her silence in a sensational interview on Good Morning Britain.
The scandal became ammunition during the December General Election for his enemies who cried foul over delays to the announcement. The IOPC strenuously denied claims it stalled the decision.
But few in Westminster really expected the investigation to amount to anything and today’s announcement will prove to be a very minor blip for the PM who largely has the public’s approval behind him.
It is worth noting, however, that the Prime Minister has not quite escaped a PR embarrassment after the report said he may have had an "intimate relationship" with Ms Arcuri.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said it "would have been wise" for Mr Johnson to have declared their "close association" as a conflict of interest.
But today’s announcement is unlikely to touch the Teflon Prime Minister whose spokesman dismissed the claims as “vexatious”.
The PM now faces a separate inquiry by the London Assembly into allegations of conflict of interest during his time at City Hall.
The organisation does have the power to summon former mayors and Mr Johnson was hauled back when he was Foreign Minister to answer questions about the Garden Bridge.
But City Hall is dominated by the Labour Party and Downing Street is likely to dismiss this again as “politically motivated”.
The big gun failed to go off today and there is now a sense that the heat will not be there.
The “scandal” might have proved titillating fodder for readers and journalists but today’s announcement shows the accusations lacked substance.
With school teachers begging for clarity, businesses desperate to open and the official UK death toll surpassing 36,000, people might just agree with the PM’s spokesman who called it “a waste of police time”.
