Has Boris Johnson started digging his own grave?
 Provided by Daily Mail  MailOnline Logo      First rule of politics: when youre in a hole, stop digging. You do not send JCBs and do not set Earth Core controls. But thats exactly what Boris Johnson did yesterday when he tried to pretend he fired Matt hancock Friday. Stupidly, the Prime Minister did not even bother to keep his official spokesperson in the fantasy. So when BoJo told Batley and Spen that it was his decision to have Hancock walk the plank, No.10 still insisted that the former Health Secretary had resigned of his own accord. Far from firing Hancock when photographic evidence of his affair with the gorgeous and sulky Gina Lollobrigida emerged, Boriss first reaction was to release a statement declaring the case closed. The prime ministers default instinct was cheeky.  Provided by Daily Mail  (      Another rule of politics is that if you lie, lie big. But it doesnt wash off when the truth is already there. By asking us to swallow the fiction he told Hancock to clear his office, Boris desperately misjudged the nations mood. People will forgive the pork every now and then, as long as its the little white variety. We expect politicians to be frugal with the news. This is what they do. But we are putting an end to deliberate attempts to insult our intelligence. And thats what Boris did yesterday. Im not going to go over every cough and spit out exactly why the hypocrite Hancock had to leave. Glendas monstrous Fleet Streets regiment did its worst over the weekend, in spectacular fashion. In other words, their real feeling of betrayal is felt in every home in Great Britain. And its not going away too fast, as Boris should have realized if hed tune in to one of the radios on his way to Yorkshire yesterday. Maybe he thought that if he claimed to have acted decisively when the story broke, he could, uh, take back control of the narrative. Sorry, my good. Too little, too late. When the first edition of The Sun fell on Thursday night, Boris should have brought in Hancock and sacked him on the spot. By the time most people woke up on Friday morning, the main culprit had reportedly left the building.  Provided by Daily Mail  (                 Provided by Daily Mail  (      It might not have been possible to limit the damage, but it would have been a start, as well as the right the only thing to do under the circumstances. Trevor has a very personal reason for his anger, not being able to give his beloved daughter Sushila a proper funeral due to government restrictions on Covid. Yet heres Hancock, the man who signed the draconian social distancing rules, getting closer to his special advisor. Adding to the blatant disregard for the rules by world leaders at the G7 and the special treatment given to European football bigwigs, this was the last straw. A rule for the great and the good, etc.  Provided by Daily Mail  (                 Provided by Daily Mail  (      But once the anger has subsided, there are still some unanswered questions. And its not going to go well for Boris. It goes way beyond the Dominic Cummings Barnard Castle affair and the Tory scandals of the 1990s. The Hancock affair is not a revival of the Whitehall farce, the pantaloon antics around the ankles of former Tory ministers like Steve Knobber Norris and Mellorphant Man. It goes to the very heart of how we are governed. My first reaction, once I stopped laughing, was: thats it, its over. Containment is over. Obviously, it wasnt just a crazy moment. It turned out that the affair had been the topic of cruise liners, as they say in Scotland, for months. So the whole time Hancock was ordering us under threat of prosecution to keep our distance, not to kiss our grannies, or to make love to someone outside of our immediate home, he would get hot and heavy with his old flame. scholar that a woman had put on the public pays so they can keep her nearby whenever the mood strikes.  Provided by Daily Mail  (      Westminster is a nest of vipers at the best of times. And even though bars and teahouses were underpopulated during the pandemic, the news still travels quickly. If even the Department of Health tea lady knew about it, it is inconceivable that the information did not reach the ear of the Chief Whip, who would have had a duty to share it with the Prime Minister. Youre not going to convince me that he had no idea, or that he was being kept in the dark. Hes a journalist, and gossip is part of our trading stock. Start peeling the onion and the real scandal erupts, especially if it can be proven that the Prime Minister knew his Health Secretary was breaking his own Covid rules but did nothing about it. Of course, when it comes to dangerous liaisons Boris has no leverage to stand on. But the paying audience knows he is a serial swordsman and doesnt care as long as it doesnt interfere with the way he does his job. Hancock, however, does not have that luxury. In the past 15 months he has ruled the day, literally, threatening us with 10,000 fines and ten years in prison if we refuse to do as he says. Now we find out that in all likelihood all this time he was ignoring those same rules, leading an illicit affair with a former girlfriend paid out of public money to help him. Boris must have had at least an idea, but kept Hancock in office. Loyalty to colleagues is an admirable trait and in most cases what politicians do in their private lives is their own business. But to surrender to a minister who willfully deceives the public, privately breaking the hard and fast rules he himself has imposed on others, is indefensible. If the Prime Minister has known for months, the truth will emerge and his own position will begin to appear untenable. Maybe thats why he tried to rewrite the script yesterday. But as a historian, he is aware that the first draft has already been written. Boris has always had an unmatched ability to paint himself in a corner and shamelessly come out on paint. Being crazy is one thing. Taking us for fools is quite another. During the 2019 election campaign, Boris memorably drove a JCB through a Get Brexit Done brick wall en route to a mind-boggling victory. The JCB he set on fire yesterday may well end up digging its own grave. Read more