Boris breaks silence to deliver lacklustre critique of Rishi’s deal

Gone was the energy and self-belief that used to characterise Boris Johnson’s speeches. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

There has been one conspicuous absence in the Commons in recent days. Well, two. Though no one counts Liz Truss any more. She has been airbrushed out of the Tory party’s history. Just a £40bn hole in the UK finances.

Boris Johnson is a different matter. It was he who won the Conservatives an 80-seat majority in the 2019 election by promising to “Get Brexit done”. He had a deal that had eluded Theresa May. A deal that was “oven ready”. Except it wasn’t. He had just created a border in the Irish Sea. He had then come up with an even more cunning plan. A bill to allow the UK to disapply the Northern Ireland protocol that it had negotiated with the EU. To break international law.