The Downing Street parties scandal only serves to further erode public trust | Blaise Tapp

What I do know for certain is that I am unable to share a tragic tale of how the strict measures of the very first lockdown prevented me from holding the hand of a sick loved one as they took their last breath.

Too many people do have stories just like that, though, which is why our prime minister is currently embroiled in the fight of his political life.

It is fair to say that there is genuine anger in millions of homes across the country following the revelations about a series of questionable gatherings of those within the higher echelons of government which have led to comparisons between Number 10 Downing Street and the craziest of students digs.

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Perhaps the last time people were as angry with a PM was two decades ago when huge numbers took to the streets to protest about the invasion of Iraq, although Tony Blair remained in the top job to fight and win another election.

As it stands, it is unlikely that Boris Johnson will get the same opportunity but I wouldn’t hold your breath that his departure from the corridors of power is imminent.

Leading politicians, the ones with chauffeur driven cars and a security detail, are built to weather storms, and much of the time this is a very useful quality but when this thick skin appears to be impervious to a groundswell of popular opinion then it is infuriating and leads to the widespread rage we are seeing right now.

I’m not angry, thanks for asking, but I am kind of sad that many people are waking up to the realisation that the man charged with leading the nation isn’t perhaps the person they thought they were voting for little more than two years ago.

Although I’ve long held the views about Mr Johnson that an army of new critics are now expressing, I take no satisfaction from it.

I’m also determined that I won’t turn into one of those armchair sages who chirps ‘I told you so’ every time Huw Edwards grimly informs us about the latest revelations relating to Covid regulation breaches by Very Important Government folk.

Would I have acted any differently during the various lockdowns had I known that some of the political elite and those who work for them appeared to be doing as they pleased while we were all locked up at home, watching reruns of Poirot and gorging ourselves on banana bread?

No, because I was genuinely fearful of a virus that, back then, we knew very little about.

Unless there is a dramatic turn of events then we are likely to hear the phrase ‘the beleaguered prime minister’ quite a lot during the course of the coming weeks and months.

The trouble with political storms like the one we are currently weathering is that it reinforces the popular belief that all politicians are the same and live by a ‘do as I say, not as I do’ code.

I’ve been fortunate enough to meet hundreds of politicians from parish council stalwarts to three prime ministers and I can say that the majority have clearly entered public office with the right intentions, which is to make life better for the likes of you and I.

Political car crashes are quite fun to watch, never mind report on, but they eventually become incredibly tedious before fizzling out, although the resentment remains.

This is never good because it only leads to apathy about politics and the decisions made in our name.

If you like a political drama then you are in luck because this one is likely to run and run but whatever the outcome, it is unlikely that even more people will ever trust a word a politician says again.

Which is a crying shame.

A message from the editor, Mark Waldron.

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