Peter Oborne’s book has the passion of someone seeking revenge for a bitter disappointment with a feckless lover.

Try this:

“He [Johnson] was a joy to work for, a fine editor and a loyal colleague with the quickest mind I’ve ever encountered….His Spectator [magazine] stood for the honest politics which he now subverts…Boris was sunny, liberal, optimistic. So how did the Johnson of The Spectator turn into today’s prime minister?” (pp135-7) (my emphasis) (Has anyone accused Johnson of ‘loyalty’ and ‘honesty’ before?)

Oborne makes no effort to discover whether he, Oborne, made a tragic misjudgement of character. What he does do, in excruciating detail, is fact check all the principal lies, deceits, acts of treachery, contempt of parliament, and self-seeking Johnson has done whilst in office.

Short on critical analysis but long, very long, on ammunition if anyone gives a toss. Oborne is quite correct Johnson has ‘subverted’ public life in Britain. Doubtless Conservative councillors (and maybe others too) up and down the country are using him as a career template