'Wrong person, wrong time' Narrative of Johnson's rule will be hard to shift

Just hours after Dominic Cummings' marathon evidence session to the Covid inquiry on Tuesday, Boris Johnson met the former Australian prime minister Scott Morrison for a social drink at the Mayfair private members' club 5 Hertford Street.

- Pippa Crerar

After some of the more explosive evidence that emerged in the inquiry room in Dorland House, near Paddington, 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 multiple references to him being an out of control shopping "trolley" who tended to "wild oscillations" will have stung. Lee Cain, his former director of communications, even admitted the erratic decisionmaking was "exhausting".

In WhatsApp messages shared with the inquiry, the UK's top civil servant, Simon Case, said Johnson "cannot lead" and was making government "impossible". Even Martin Reynolds, the senior official Johnson referred to as his "loyal

labrador", admitted: "It's fair to say that the prime minister did, as it were, blow hot and cold." Allies suggested the former prime minister's tendency to change his mind was an inevitable consequence of being the boss. One said: "He was the only person who had to constantly arbitrate on the many competing views there were about what to do." Johnson had used the "trolley" metaphor about himself ever since the days of his leave v remain quandary over Brexit, according to two sources, before Cummings got in on the act. One indelible assertion about Johnson's leadership was Cain's suggestion that the pandemic was the "wrong crisis" for his skill set. The former adviser said: "He's somebody who would often delay making decisions. He would often seek counsel from multiple sources and change his mind on issues.