Is this the week Boris Johnson’s luck finally runs out?

‘Is he lucky?’ Napoleon demanded to know of one of his generals. When Sue Gray’s partygate report is released in the coming hours, we’ll soon find out if the luck Boris Johnson has enjoyed during his rise to the top continues. Given that Boris managed to escape from the Met police investigation into the festivities that played out in Downing Street during the pandemic with just a single fine, it seems unlikely the PM’s luck is about to run out. It marks a miraculous turnaround from just a few months ago when it looked almost certain that partygate would bury Boris.

Yet Boris’s detractors ignored one thing: time and time again throughout his switchback career in the media and politics he has been dismissed, written off, and counted out – only to bounce back like some monstrous rubber ball, stronger and more successful than ever. Scandals and setbacks that would have spelled the end of more conventional and duller careers have only served to boost Boris as he clambered to the very top of the greasy pole.