Boris Johnson is finally gone.
It’s been 18 months since the Covid rule-breaking that happened in Number 10 on his watch was exposed.
While families across the UK diligently followed the rules – missing loved ones’ weddings and funerals, cancelling Christmas and staying away from elderly relatives – Johnson thought they did not apply to him.
And when he got caught, he lied about it. He lied to the media, to the public and finally – critically – to MPs.
Now, his lies have finally caught up with him. But none of us should be surprised.
His casual attitudes to both the truth and the rules were evident throughout his career, from being sacked as a journalist for making up quotes to being sacked as a shadow minister for lying about an affair.
In Downing Street, he allowed sleaze to go on right under his nose.
He tried to change the rules to get pal Owen Patterson off the hook for breaking lobbying rules. And he joked sex pest Chris Pincher was “Pincher by name, pincher by nature” before giving him a job maintaining party discipline.
Despite his government’s successes during the pandemic – chiefly the successful vaccine rollout – his leadership was lacking at the time it was needed most.
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He bristled against introducing restrictions to reduce the spread of the virus. He repeatedly failed to wear masks and boasted of shaking hands with Covid patients even as it was becoming clear close contact was a huge factor in the spread of the disease.
And perhaps most disrespectful to families who lost those close to them, he is said to have declared he would “let the bodies pile high” sooner than have another lifesaving lockdown.
He was never fit to represent his constituents, much less to lead the country. So in some ways, his downfall is, at long last, a victory for common sense, for the people and for justice.
But it is too early to celebrate. There were distinct shades of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator character to his parting statement.
And whether by standing in a crony’s old seat, or in some other way, he thinks he will be back. Because he still does not think he has done anything wrong.
Astonishingly, he thinks he is the wounded party, brought down by a kangaroo court of political assassins.
So the country must take the opportunity to nip his comeback ambitions in the bud – and push for an election now, while he is out of the picture.
As Keir Starmer writes in this paper today, this farce must stop. People have had enough.
If Rishi Sunak cannot even stand up to his wounded old boss, he needs to let the country have its say on 13 years of Tory failure.
