It was not a great day for Boris Johnson; indeed, in a way, it was the worst since he was forced to resign last year. Any remote hopes that he might somehow make the biggest comeback since Lazarus and replace Rishi Sunak as prime minister were left shattered on the floor of the Grimond Room of parliament’s Portcullis House.
Even if Mr Sunak managed to lose every single Conservative seat in the May local elections, crashing the economy along the way, his party would not turn to Mr Johnson as a saviour.
Indeed, Mr Johnson looks increasingly likely to be sanctioned by the House of Commons committee of privileges, and is facing the possibility of a recall petition and a by-election in his seat of Uxbridge and South Ruislip. He looks finished, haunted even, as the truth catches up with him.
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