Boris Johnson will get away with the Jennifer Arcuri scandal – we’re already letting him

Do we still expect our servants to follow the laws governing their use of power? Or are national sensibilities so degraded that his scandals only elicit a weary murmur of ‘Ach, it’s just Boris being Boris’?

I must say, it’s a slice of luck for Boris Johnson that he has nothing else on his prime ministerial plate right now. If he did have a serious major political distraction, you’d worry about him being overwhelmed by the oncoming storm.

Early on Monday, Jennifer Arcuri, the prime minister’s “friend” and, according to Johnson, “legitimate businesswoman”, will give her first TV interview to Good Morning Britain, while Tuesday is the deadline for Johnson to provide the Greater London Authority’s (GLA) oversight committee with details of their relationship.

If he ignores it, the GLA has the power to summon Johnson, and compel him to hand over relevant texts and emails from 2012, when this sprightly American was giving the Luddite mayor of London “technology advice” at her Shoreditch flat.