failure to answer a simple question on the number of children he has brought into the world should be a key part of the election campaign.
There is a public interest in exposing the Prime Minister’s hypocrisy on his so-called private life.
Much has been written about the way David Cameron’s Government tried to cut the country’s deficit by targeting lifeline benefits for the poor.
Tory MPs pushed through the bedroom tax, the rape clause and cut payments for the disabled. They even tried to slash tax credits – a crucial income top-up for the low paid.
An equally obnoxious element of the Tory attack on social security was the humiliation inflicted on individuals who needed to claim modest benefits.
Tougher eligibility rules, “fitness to work” tests and intrusive questions about family life were introduced as a disincentive. Trying to claim benefits in 21st century Britain is just as stressful as the circumstances that led to the walk to the job centre.
Johnson is now the custodian of this mendacious system and, given what can be gleaned from the Tory manifesto, he will be its chief apologist if he returns to No10.
The Prime Minister expects ordinary citizens to jump through hoops to draw on modest help from the public purse, while at the same time deflecting questions about his own choices by invoking the privacy of his children.
To recap, the philanderer-in-chief has four children with his second wife, but fathered at least one other child during the same marriage.
None of our business, apparently. If only social security claimants could use this line when trying to get a roof over their heads.
Johnson has contributed to the rise in single parenthood across the UK. This should, for any fair-minded person, not be considered a problem.
However, in the 1990s, against a backdrop of Tory attacks on single parents, he let rip on what he regarded as the feckless working class, describing the children of lone mothers as “ill-raised, ignorant, aggressive and illegitimate”.
His attack could have been written off as youthful idiocy had it been followed by an apology, but to this day he refuses to distance himself from the remarks.
Johnson expects others to follow standards that he exempts himself from following, a hypocrisy Labour could legitimately pounce on.
Jeremy Corbyn , who subscribes to the late Tony Benn’s view that politics is about issues rather than personalities, is unlikely to make Johnson’s personal dishonesty an election issue, but his colleagues could.
Labour has made “trust” one of the key messages of their campaign, such as the allegation that the NHS could be handed over to Trump’s America, without ever really hitting the bullseye on Boris.
The latest opinion polls show two possible outcomes next week: a Tory majority; or, at a push, a hung Parliament.
Going negative in the last 10 days could deprive Johnson of the numbers he needs to turn the screw further on the Labour voters he clearly despises.
