Boris Johnson departs without grace or imagination – but we’re still hooked

Like mugs, we’re still waiting with bated breath to see how our unlikely hero will escape his next scrape, remaining somehow under his spell even though the adventure is over, writes Salma Shah

In one way or another, he’s responsible for deposing three British prime ministers – the last one being himself (PA)

Political obituaries are incredibly difficult to write. How can one pack in the detail of a high-profile political career with a word limit? This predicament is made worse when you’re also not quite sure the career in question is actually dead yet.

Boris Johnson’s refusal to play by the rules means even his departure lacks the time-honoured dignity of pushing off gracefully to let the next person have their turn at the helm. Nor is it helpful to deny the commentators of the world their neat closure of watching him finally setting off into a sunset lined with lucrative book deals and speaking engagements.

Instead, we have a typically Johnsonian mess, without grace or imagination, yet still keeping us completely hooked. He intimates that he may be back, breathing down the neck of the next person, posing as a prince across the water yet again. Like mugs, we’re still waiting with bated breath to see how our unlikely hero will escape his next scrape with parliamentary standards, remaining somehow under his spell even though the adventure is over.