Party time at Number 10

One of the more surprising aspects of the current snowstorm of crises surrounding the besieged regime of Boris Johnson is that anyone finds it surprising.

From his teenage years onwards, almost everyone who ever came into close contact with the present incumbent of Number 10 had him marked down as a chaotic twat whose iffy traits/weaknesses and total lack of self-discipline/integrity were at least partially offset by his inherent ability to entertain/amuse by playing the clown in a traditional, music hall, kind of a way.

Whether he was penning journalistic or opinion pieces for the Daily Telegraph, running for Parliament or appearing on the satirical news/quiz show Have I Got News For You, his strengths and weaknesses were always “hiding in plain sight”.

This isn’t just the benefit of hindsight.

As the saying goes, “If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck – then it probably is a duck”.

Everyone from comedians, media commentators to we, the great British public, has twigged exactly how he is from the moment they first set eyes upon him.

Fascinating/horrifying to behold, often hilariously funny, charismatic, an over-the-top “turn” – in all of those senses an occasional welcome respite from our normal, desperately dull, plodding, politicians – but not the sort of cove that you’d necessarily ever want representing your country on the world stage, never mind at your local neighbourhood auditions for ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent show.

Nevertheless, Boris got elected as a Tory MP, caused controversy as often as he ever got his head down and worked (who can forget the time that, as a junior minister, he had to go to apologise to the people of Liverpool over a gratuitous insult he paid the city?) and when promoted to higher office, by general consent was branded a farcical failure as our Foreign Secretary.

And yet somehow he was elected as Tory leader – presumably because, despite everything, he seemed to be a “winner”, which is naturally the main/only concern of the Tory party whenever election-times approach.

Now, it seems, the chickens have come home to roost. Well, to be fair, they’ve been there ever since Boris first walked in through the door – the feathers now littering every room in Numbers 10 and 11 Downing Street.

Sometimes one doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Even the “usual suspect” left and right wing political commentators must be getting weary of drafting their endless “I told you so” (latest Boris outrage) articles.

Let’s be honest about it.

In this life, you get the politicians you deserve – just as you get what you pays for.

Or rather, when it comes to politics, you get what you vote for – and ironically this also applies no less to those, including me, who never vote.