A fish rots from the head – and Boris the bounder stank

Now we know. We knew all along, of course, but now it’s confirmed. That Boris Johnson was unfit to lead the country. He should never have been prime minister.

- CHRIS BLACKHURST

Even today, there are some Tories who still crave the blond wonder’s return. He delivered an emphatic general election victory; maybe he can do the same again. Better than Kemi or Robert. He would see off Nigel Farage, you bet he would.

The man himself is also believed to harbour thoughts of some spiffing, splendiferous comeback, akin to that of his great hero, Winston Churchill. Meanwhile, he is paid a fortune to tour the world lecturing and to pour forth his views in the media. To which the rejoinder should be shouted and writ large: 23,000.

That is how many lives could have been saved but for his incompetence; if the government he led had imposed the Covid-19 lockdown earlier. He will splutter, and squeal, and reach for convoluted language, as he always does when cornered – but in her damning report, Heather Hallett, the chair of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, is plain and direct, brooking no opposition, leaving nowhere for him to turn.