For his critics, Boris Johnson offends the notion that the British are a sensible people so deeply we feel we no longer understand much of our country.

How, we wonder, can so many voters support an obvious phoney? How does a prime minister who makes it up as he goes along get away with it?

The fraudulent promises of rising living standards, the national self-harm of Brexit, the deliberate exacerbation of tensions in Ireland and the treatment of former friends in Europe as enemies have produced an anti-Johnsonian culture.