'Boris Johnson is desperate to cast himself as stirring war leader against Russia'

All politicians benefit from the odd stroke of luck but few as much as
Boris Johnson.

He is lucky that the Ukraine crisis has distracted attention from the Downing Street party scandal.

And he is lucky that it has given him the chance to play the statesman with his sombre address to the nation today. If there was a whiff of Winston Churchill in his words it was entirely deliberate.