We used to laugh with Boris Johnson – now we’re laughing at him

As mayor of London, Johnson made people feel cheerful. Now, for many of his erstwhile supporters, the joke has long since worn thin

We’re only talking about cake because the prime minister had it and ate it during lockdown. We’re distracted because he’s distracted (PA Wire)

Remember when Boris Johnson got stuck on the zip wire? At the time, celebrating a Team GB win at the 2012 Olympics, most people laughed with him. Now, many are laughing at him. That is, when they’re not yelling at him.

When he was mayor of London, he won two terms because he was a larger than life character who appealed to Londoners who wouldn’t normally dream of voting Conservative. Above all, he made people feel cheerful. Now, for many of his erstwhile supporters, the joke has long since worn thin.

I realised this when I interviewed one of Johnson’s trustiest allies, the affable Northern Ireland minister Conor Burns for Channel 4 News earlier this week. He was trying to explain why a birthday party for the prime minister wasn’t a party, and therefore broke no rules.

“He, as far as I can see, he was in a sense, ambushed with a cake. They came to his office with a cake, they sang happy birthday, he was there for 10 minutes,” he told me. If I struggled to keep a straight face then, I’m afraid I lost the battle on Twitter later, as the hilarious efforts of the British public warned of Battenberg beatings, death by chocolate cake, and an invasion of Colin the Caterpillars.

Even Nigella Lawson joined in, tweeting: “Ambushed by Cake: it just has to be the title of my next book!” Burns himself was keen to show that while his pride might have been hurt by the social media ribbing, his sense of humour was intact. “It’s yours if you want it! Could I include my Granny’s Christmas cake recipe?” he replied to Nigella, but got an instant put-down from the domestic goddess: “This is just too meta? Plus, you think it’s a joke. Says it all”.

The predominant mood remains anger with the government. And while black humour occasionally erupts, ministers are, it seems, no longer given public permission to chuckle along. Johnson’s loyal henchmen and women are in danger of tying themselves in knots with their blind loyalty to the boss.

Take Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg, for example. When he said last night that Johnson wouldn’t need to resign even if he was interviewed by police under caution – that is, as a suspect – he appeared to be trying to make an obvious legal point that someone is innocent until proven guilty. But the impression remained that he would defend the prime minister come what may. And the risk is that ministers’ devotion to saving the prime minister’s job – and their own into the bargain – is turning politics into farce.

Of course, I had to ask Rees-Mogg if he himself had ever been ambushed with a cake. His response? “I think this is getting ridiculous. All these things are going on in the world and we’re talking about cake! There is no sense of proportionality in that. We need to be thinking about the extraordinarily good leadership that the prime minister has given us. Brexit is only a starting point, the vaccine programme… and now dealing with the issue of the Ukraine… and you want to talk about cake!”

To keep up to speed with all the latest opinions and comment, sign up to our free weekly Voices Dispatches newsletter by clicking here

But we’re only talking about cake because the prime minister had it and ate it during lockdown. We’re distracted because he’s distracted. Yes, he should be focusing on the possibility of war between Russia and Ukraine, but although Mr Rees-Mogg insisted that the prime minister was fully engaged with world leaders on the crisis, the sense from No 10 is of a government paralysed by uncertainty until Sue Gray delivers her magnum opus.

And anyway, cake in this context is a serious business. We’re not talking about Victoria sponge or sticky toffee pudding. We’re talking about trust in the prime minister, whether he lied about lockdown parties, and whether he and his closest allies were making the rules for us, when they themselves had no intention of following them.

There were fresh allegations of lying yesterday – vehemently denied by Downing Street – this time over the evacuation of cats and dogs from Kabul.

The longer this goes on, the more the entire business of government is reduced to silly arguments about cake. And rather than blaming the media for that, the prime minister and his ministerial colleagues ought to recognise that they cooked this one up all by themselves.

Cathy Newman presents ‘Channel 4 News’, weekdays at 7pm