Boris Johnson - again

My sleep pattern is shot to hell since the clocks went forward, so since I'm awake I might as well post something.

What is Boris Johnson's role in the current Westminster Tory government?

Yeah, I know he's the Foreign Secretary (I would say allegedly) but he's obviously out of his depth in that role. Just have a look at his performance dealing with Emily Thornberry (Shadow Foreign Secretary) in Westminster, when he addresses her by her husband's name as 'Baroness someone', and has to be called to order by the Speaker.

Johnson's been around politics and Westminster long enough to know which way is up, so this was definitely intended as a put-down. That would be because Emily Thornberry has had a good run for the last few months, making Johnson look like what he is: an idiot. Now he looks like a patronising, sexist idiot.

He's not employed for his skill as a diplomat as far as I can see, although I heard last night he managed to phone a few people around the world in Theresa May's search for backing in the Salisbury Affair and avoided making a complete arse of himself. Major triumph for Johnson.

But I repeat: what is his role? In my opinion, he started off as that awfully popular chap off Have I Got News For You, the former mayor of London who didn't mind making a fool of himself on zip-wires and in river clean-ups. Despite his campaign to build a new airport on the Thames and a bridge with a garden along its length, and despite being sacked in his early days for dishonesty by a Fleet Street newspaper (now there's a novelty), he was capable of making a run for the job of prime minister. Good Ole Boris. What a laugh.

But he's not so popular now. And yet, he's still there.

He is now, I think, in a very special category: he's Theresa May's clown.  He probably still thinks he's in the running to be prime minister, but I suspect Theresa and her 'people' have long since got the measure of him and are happy to hang him out to dry. Theresa May, who is a 'better' (that is, a craftier) politician than many of us give her credit for will trot out Johnson to explain what's happening with the Russians, just as David Davies is trotted out to explain what's happening with the EU. Neither is convincing and for the same reason: neither of them is able to think on their feet.

But that won't matter because the longer plan is to make sure the Tories stay in power, getting the UK out of the EU, enforcing austerity, etc.

And if you think the current anti-semitism charge against Jeremy Corbyn is suspect, you're right. And it isn't a coincidence that the charge is aimed only at Jeremy Corbyn - to prove he's unfit for government - or that it emerged right now, as the Salisbury Affair is dying down.

So what is Boris Johnson? A dupe of Conservative Central Office, like many others before him.