Boris has his enemies to thank for surviving partygate

The surest way to put people off an opinion they might otherwise agree with is to get somebody they actively despise to articulate it. Yet this is what the anti-Boris Johnson political class proposes to do repeatedly in the House of Commons on Sue Gray Day, perhaps as early as tomorrow.

One does not have to be equipped with the clairvoyant powers of a Gypsy Rose Lee to envisage the moralistic huffing and puffing from Keir Starmer or the death stares and withering, shivering condemnation of Theresa May that will occur as they pound away at the lockdown partying antics of Boris Johnson and his team.

Leaked photographs of Johnson proposing a toast at impromptu leaving drinks held for Lee Cain during lockdown certainly seem to depict enjoyment being had, verging on outright partying. Though the PM’s red box full of official papers is lying on a chair in the background like some kind of desultory alibi, it is the array of empty drinks bottles on a table in the foreground that catch the eye, along with the great blond bon-viveur himself raising his glass to his departing spin doctor.

A picture, we are always told, is worth a thousand words and this one won’t look good in the eyes of the electorate.