Boris And Putin

Boris sees himself as the mega hawk about Putin and his intentions. He proclaims a determination to see Putin beaten back from Ukraine and warns of going soft on Russian aggression. Without discussing  the merits of either case, it seems to me that the ordinary people of Ukraine have suffered enough and that diplomacy needs to end this war now. Boris will do his best to encourage Zelensky to fight on.

Yet the hard truth is that Putin is vital to Boris’s political survival. Without the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Boris would now  be far, far away from Downing Street. Whatever price this war is going to exact upon the British people for helping to keep it going,  Boris remaining in office, as the most disreputable prime minister in our long history, is a price not worth paying.

This man is unfit for  office. He lies and cheats, he is obsessed with his own power, he sees politics as a game show and will promote any cause that he judges good for him, without understanding its implications nor caring about its delivery. He lied over Brexit, he lied over the Red Wall, he lied over partygate. He does not understand, and has lost control of, the economy, the NHS, the energy crisis, the housing crisis, the cost of living crisis, the social care crisis, the justice system.

The list is almost endless. Most of his government is a rabble of  incompetent nobodies in politics as means to make money later, who do his bidding because they are clueless. In every sphere of public life the gap between promise and delivery is wider than ever in modern times.

But he hangs in there, knowing in his heart the game is up, but stoking the Ukraine cauldron of suffering for all he is worth, because he realises it is Putin who gives him standing in the world and that strange cloak of respectability worn by conmen down the ages since the dawn of history.