Can Boris Johnson escape punishment at Partygate inquiry?

The former PM faces a grilling on Wednesday. Does he have enough evidence to avoid destruction? Adam Forrest takes a closer look

Boris Johnson denies misleading the Commons over Downing Street events during lockdown (PA)

Boris Johnson is addicted to getting himself into trouble. The former Tory leader has made a strange habit of tripping up and falling into avoidable scandals throughout his political career.

He even appeared to self-diagnose the addiction in his 2004 novel Seventy-Two Virgins, which featured a charming, if somewhat disheveled chancer (guess who?) as its Tory MP hero. “There was something prurient about the way he wanted to read about his own destruction,” the author wrote.

If Johnson is not careful on Wednesday, he could be reading about his own destruction in Thursday’s newspapers. The former prime minister is up against it as he prepares for his public grilling at the hands of the privileges committee.