Chaos theory Johnson will struggle to reverse account of his Covid reign

Inquiry evidence stacks up against former PM, in repeated references to him being out of control and indecisive

- Pippa Crerar

Just hours after Dominic Cummings' marathon evidence session to the Covid inquiry last Tuesday, Boris Johnson met the former Australian prime minister Scott Morrison for a drink at a London private members' club.

Johnson has been following the hearings throughout and after some of the more explosive evidence that emerged in the inquiry room that day, he may well have been in need of a large glass of Australian red.

While Johnson's reputation for changing his mind on big decisions is well known, the many references to him being like an out of control shopping trolley who tended to "wild oscillations" will have stung.

In WhatsApp messages shared with the inquiry, the UK's top civil servant, Simon Case, said Johnson could not lead and was making government "impossible". Even Martin Reynolds, the senior official whom Johnson referred to as his "loyal labrador", said: "It's fair to say that the prime minister did, as it were, blow hot and cold."

Allies, however, suggested that Johnson's tendency to change his mind, depending on which adviser was last in the room, was an inevitable consequence of being the boss. "He was the only person who had to constantly arbitrate on the many competing views there were about what to do," one said.