Everybody loves a joke, but having a buffoon as Prime Minister costs you more than you think. It is not just that you are £000s poorer, your choices and opportunities have been curtailed and British interests immeasurably harmed.

Boris Johnson is no fool, this makes his behaviour even worse and more unacceptable. He is calculating, he is deliberately playing the buffoon because he believes it is what voters want and like. Sadly he is able to capitalise on peoples’ cynicism and disdain for politicians in general.

He feeds on ignorance, prejudice and resentment. For him being Prime Minister is more of a game, an ambition to do what it takes to get the job and then to do all he can to keep it until he loses interest or it ceases to be fun anymore. The joke is on the people who vote for him, but for as long as he can keep them amused, and in the absence of any serious alternative, he will continue to act the part.

The emergence of Boris is a tragedy for the United Kingdom. He symbolises many of the things that have gone wrong and also what needs to be put right. He knows as much himself. Nothing sums up the point more than Brexit. In his heart and head he knows that leaving the EU was a dreadful mistake. He only championed it because he didn’t believe Leave would win but he could use the issue to advance his status within the Conservative Party. He is a modern day pied piper, using his skills to deceive people; the harm he has done to Britain is treasonable.

While he is a witty game show contestant and brings a touch of colour to minor office, he is pathologically unsuited to the challenges of being Prime Minister. Bluster and incompetence do not serve this country well. His failures in the pandemic have cost billions and tens of thousands of lives. His government is part panto, part farce and part horror show, Britain deserves far better.

Everyone has suffered from Boris but the people who have lost most are the young, those in their twenties and thirties not to mention the millions of children who have had their opportunities and prospects sabotaged. Boris devalues futures, he has diminished Britain; he has cost your dear, he must be removed from office and held to account.