Today, the Prime Minister flies to Ukraine for crisis talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. This comes after he was forced to miss a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday, because he was making a statement to the Commons in response to the long-awaited Sue Gray report.
This situation, where vital matters of state are sidelined to deal with the ongoing fallout from the “partygate” scandal, is likely to define the coming weeks and months. The status quo — with a damning if incomplete Gray report amid a Metropolitan Police investigation — leaves both the Prime Minister and the country in limbo.
Yet what is beyond doubt is that Johnson is severely damaged by recent events. Despite a typically bombastic performance in the chamber yesterday, his attempt at an apology did not go far enough to satisfy the public’s need for contrition, nor did it fully reassure Conservative MPs that he understood the scale of the problem. While it appears increasingly unlikely that the required 54 letters of no confidence will go into the 1922 Committee at this stage, many backbenchers are reserving judgement.
The public, meanwhile, is far from impressed. The polling suggests no change in the view held by two-thirds of voters — that Johnson should resign.
At a time when the economic recovery, cost of living and the spectre of war in Europe should be front of mind, the country faces a distracted Prime Minister presiding over a period of drift. That should concern us all.
