So farewell then Boris Johnson.
We’d like to say it’s been fun. But for a Prime Minister who rose to public prominence on a Friday night comedy show, his brief time in office has veered far too often towards tragedy and farce.
At least yesterday’s final appearance at Prime Minister’s Questions brought the conclusion to this sorry episode a little closer.
Unsurprisingly the outgoing PM’s closing words were heavy on quips, light on substance and free from remorse for the events that led to his downfall.
And time will tell whether the accomplishments he listed appear quite so substantial in the rear view mirror.
But while Boris Johnson has answered his last PMQs, there are plenty more questions remaining.
Will history show he “got the big decisions right” on Covid? Or will Partygate overshadow all that was achieved?
Was “getting Brexit done” our promised ticket to the sunlit uplands? Or will the doubters, doomsters and gloomsters be proved right in their dire predictions?
Will a cost of living crisis and the deepest recession since records began leave a legacy more toxic than his many slip-ups and scandals?
Incredible moment as former PM Theresa May refuses to clap for @BorisJohnson at his last PMQs pic.twitter.com/gPFFBgp6AP
— Shehab Khan ITV (@ShehabKhan) July 20, 2022
And will the journey from his landslide election victory in 2019 to his unseemly exit in 2022 be memorialised as one of the greatest unravellings in politics?
Scotland question is not going away
For those of us in Scotland, where Boris Johnson was disliked, even by the standards of Conservative prime ministers, there is another question.
How will his three years in office, and the impact of his departure, shape the debate around Scottish independence?
SNP leader Ian Blackford thanked Boris Johnson for “driving support for independence to new heights” during his last PMQs yesterday.
And the constitutional question will be another headache for whichever former cabinet minister replaces him as PM.
Neither Rishi Sunak, nor Liz Truss, can position themselves as the clean-break candidate which many voters had hoped for.
And it looks inevitable that their predecessor will be gone but not forgotten for some time to come.
Certainly his sign-off at his last PMQs yesterday suggested Boris Johnson is a man with unfinished business.
“Mission accomplished… for now,” he declared: “Hasta la vista, baby.”
Seldom has the prospect of a sequel seemed quite so unappetising.
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