Chances of a Johnson return look doomed

In office, Boris Johnson liked to see himself as a latter-day Winston Churchill. But the Covid report describing his toxic, chaotic and indecisive No 10 ought finally to put paid to any delusions that he had the qualities necessary to be a prime minister, let alone one guiding a country through a deadly national emergency.

- Rowena Mason

The claim among Johnson's supporters that he could make a political comeback also now looks increasingly dead in the water.

Johnson's opponents are already seeking to blame a "Boriswave" of post-Brexit migration on the former PM, questioning his political judgment on an area of policy that matters to many voters.

But the Covid report is far more damning about his lack of personal leadership and direction.

The report may not reveal anything new about Johnson's character, but the official conclusion that more lives could have been saved if not for a "lost month" of inaction in February 2020 is damaging. In the words of the Covid-19 Bereaved Families group, it is "devastating to think of the lives that could have been saved under a different prime minister".