The world of the Daily Express

THANK YOU BORIS…YOU GAVE BRITAIN BACK ITS FREEDOM, the Daily Express announced, when finally forced to recognise that he was going. That’s a standard Brexit myth, far less convincing now than it might have sounded five years ago, but there are still people who believe it.

But how many people believe this: “Reluctantly, but with great dignity, Boris Johnson conceded his tumultuous premiership was finally over…” There was no dignity. Every other witness to these final hours records a Johnson desperate to cling on to power, however irrational or pathetic that seemed.

The show must go on, and if they keep hitting the same familiar notes, somebody out there might believe that they are true: “He will be recognised as the man who took on Putin and saved Britain from the Covid virus, the threat of Marxist rule by Jeremy Corbyn, and continued subjugation to the EU.” How many HNS workers think Johnson saved us from Covid? Corbyn’s rule might have been chaotic - though it could hardly have been more chaotic than Johnson’s - but it wouldn’t have been Marxist. And how many businesses trying to trade with Europe are celebrating the post=-Brexit chaos of our current relationship?

it’s about faith, not reality, as Carole Malone’s column illustrates: “He was a posh boy but he felt like one of us. He was on our side and he wanted what WE wanted, even though we inhabited different worlds.” Yup, that about describes it. A confidence trick, successful for a while.