Boris Johnson once explained his desire to go into politics by saying: “They don’t put up statues to journalists.”
I’m doubtful that anyone other than he is planning one, but his place in history is definitely set in stone. He has earned the dismal distinction of being both the first prime minister to have been given a criminal sanction while in office and the first to be placed under investigation for contempt of parliament. After being fined by the police for breaking the life-or-death laws he himself introduced to curb Covid, he will see the privileges committee adjudicate on his repeated false denials to the Commons. Britain has had some dicey leaders before, but no previous incumbent has generated such a double-whammy of disgraces, either of which would have impelled the resignation of any of his predecessors.
