Mission, said Boris Johnson in his final PMQs, largely accomplished – for now.
It’s difficult to work out what he means by that. His tenure in office has been a disaster.
He has lowered trust in politics and faith in our institutions. He leaves a divided country, an NHS i n crisis, a volatile public sector.
The police are struggling, teachers, firemen. And the crisis in our armed forces is staggering.
Today we reveal the desperate state of our regiments. Short on manpower and equipment, almost every unit is understrength. At a critical time too.
Tensions across the world are extremely high. Russia goes without saying, but there are other threats springing up all the time.
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Who knows where our troops will have to be deployed next? Wherever it is, they will be heading into danger without the proper resources. It is a scandal. And a dangerous one.
As Col Richard Kemp tells us: “Even in the 1930s when the threat from Hitler became clear we reversed the decline in our forces.
“It is nothing other than gross dereliction of duty by the Government not to do so now.”
Also in today’s paper are the photos of Mr Johnson dressed in combat fatigues, playing with a fake hand grenade in the woods. It says it all doesn’t it? Has he ever been serious?
Praised for helping Ukraine, offering support, while at the same time gutting the armed forces.
As Col Kemp says: “We have done a lot to help Ukrainian forces but we should be building up our own combat capabilities not reducing them.”
Isle still watch it
The delicate politics and intrigue that form this year’s Love Island are too complex to go into here. But one of the emerging themes is “toxic masculinity”.
It’s not really that surprising. These are extreme circumstances and the villa is a pressure cooker.
The men are not acting normally. Neither are the women. But that’s why they’re on TV. That’s why, despite a few thousand complaints, people watch in their millions.
