The resignation of his ethics adviser won’t be the last scandal attached to Boris Johnson

Editorial: Tomorrow, next week, the week after that and the following month will bring fresh setbacks and disasters. It is simply what happens when Mr Johnson is in charge

(Dave Brown)

One of the few things that the prime minister’s friends and foes might find common ground on is that there’s never a dull moment with Boris Johnson. Not, it must be added, always in a good way. Indeed, pleasant surprises about Mr Johnson seem to be something of a rarity.

This is the essential context to the latest Johnsonian scrape, the resignation of Lord Geidt, the second independent adviser on ministerial conduct to quit in less than two years.

The last 24 hours or so have yielded the further unwelcome revelation that the prime minister seems to have tried to recruit Lord Geidt to provide unlikely cover for what the peer suspected was a “deliberate and purposeful breach of the ministerial code”. To him, it was an “affront” to ask him to effectively countenance a breach of the code that he is supposed to uphold, with the overarching obligation, common to ministers and advisers, to obey the law. He was being walked all over, again. It was the final insult.

No doubt further ugly details will emerge about the plot to evade World Trade Organisation rules in order to subsidise the British steel industry – and who stood to benefit from it. In the past, the fragmented remains of what was once a huge nationalised concern have attracted the attention of controversial entrepreneurs and financiers such as Greensill Capital (famously once roping in the amateur lobbyist David Cameron). It’s curious that the independent adviser should have been consulted on such a routine matter of industrial strategy.

The prime minister’s supporters will fairly point out that he was merely seeking clearance to save thousands of jobs in places that will be devastated by closures; but, like the Northern Ireland protocol and the Rwanda flight, every government has to work within the rules to implement its policy, and that includes international obligations. To do otherwise is not only unethical and unlawful but simply unsustainable.

The point remains. Tomorrow, next week, the week after that, the following month and so forth will bring fresh setbacks, scandals and disasters. It is simply what happens when Mr Johnson is in charge. As it happens, some even have dates attached.

Next week, voters in the by-elections in Yorkshire and Devon will speak for England and tell his party exactly what they think of the prime minister. The committee on privileges will soon after try to determine whether he deliberately lied to the House of Commons. If it sanctions him, he faces a petition and a possible by-election in his own seat.

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The coming months will see a further deterioration of the economy, and an even tighter squeeze on wages, living standards and mortgage rates. The inquiry into the response to Covid will get under way. Only those closest to him know what other scandals are ready to derail his latest comeback.

Trouble, usually serious, is never far away from the prime minister, and it means he cannot “get on with the job” because of his flaws. He cannot be restrained by any number of advisers and codes. The team in Downing Street, often cited as his weakness, never makes much difference, as the departures of Dominic Cummings, Allegra Stratton, Dan Rosenfield, Munira Mirza and others amply demonstrate.

As Sue Gray effectively concluded in her report into Partygate, the truth is that the culture of Downing Street and the habit of dither, delay and U-turn are consequences of having such a personality as Boris Johnson in charge. Things can only get worse.