The Big Picture

Vincent Boland: It’s time for the grown ups to pick up the pieces after all the buffoonery

The Johnson era has been a disaster and Britain needs to stop indulging in delusions if it is to rebuild relations with its allies and friends

Departing British prime minister Boris Johnson: the tawdriness of his departure was an appropriate bookend to his years in office. Picture: Getty

After all the bombast and bluster, after the bogus invocation of so much make-believe history, after the diminishing of a proud nation and its institutions, after the end-of-the-pier Churchill act, the Boris Johnson era has ended without so much as a whimper.

The tawdriness of his departure, triggered by the exposure of a sexual predator among his clique of loyalists, was an appropriate bookend to his years in office. But voters will also note the ...