Boris’s historic humiliation: the fatal flaws that made a wannabe Churchill unfit to be PM

With a historic majority and the full support of his party, the former PM had all the political momentum in the world. So how did he manage to squander it? Andrew Grice explains

Boris Johnson’s apparent belief that rules apply only to other people is a recurring theme in his life (Getty)

Boris Johnson always wanted to be a history maker. “No one puts up statues to journalists,” he once said. He constantly invited comparisons with Winston Churchill, who led the UK through the Second World War.

When Johnson wrote a book about his hero, The Churchill Factor, it was as much about his own ambition and desire to emulate him. Although Johnson’s finest hour came during the next war on European soil – in the strong, decisive leadership he showed on Ukraine – it was eclipsed by a series of self-inflicted disasters that stemmed from the fatal flaws that made him unfit to be prime minister.

Those flaws were laid bare in the excoriating report by the Commons privileges committee, which found that Johnson had deliberately and repeatedly lied to parliament over Partygate. There is no precedent; no British prime minister has ever suffered such a humiliating verdict. It will ensure that Johnson enters the history books, not for the reasons he wanted but for a very different one.