Good morning. If, at 2pm today, you find that the high-octane antiquing of ITV1’s Dickinson’s Real Deal isn’t quite hitting the spot, you will find the rolling news channels offering a rare bit of competitive counter-programming with a preposterous old smoothie of their own. At around that time, the House of Commons’ privileges committee will begin one of its most significant hearings in recent memory. The witness, who will face questions for up to four hours, is Boris Johnson, and what his fellow MPs make of his evidence could decide his parliamentary future.
What parliamentary future, you may ask? After all, Johnson has already earned nearly £5m in speaking fees and book advances since resigning as prime minister; his side hustle as MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip hardly seems worth the bother. But Johnson has shown no sign of being philosophical about the reputational harm of allegations that he knowingly misled the Commons over Partygate. And rumours of his interest in usurping Rishi Sunak to become Conservative leader have proven far more persistent than anyone would have expected when he stood down in something he denied was disgrace last summer.
