Daniel McConnell: Boris is going, so it can't get any worse. Can it?
Boris Johnson, the British prime minister, reads a statement outside 10 Downing Street, London, formally resigning as Conservative Party leader.
Even in his exit as British prime minister, Boris Johnson could not manage an ounce of dignity.
Having bowed to the inevitable, rather than go immediately with his empire in flames, the defeated Johnson proposed to remain in office as caretaker until October.
Who thought that was a sensible idea?
Many of Johnson’s previous loyalists have slammed the proposal as madness.
John Major, another former Tory prime minister, wrote to Graham Brady, the chair of the backbench 1922 Committee to argue that Johnson should not remain prime minister.
“The proposal for the prime minister to remain in office — for up to three months — having lost the support of his Cabinet, his Government and his parliamentary party is unwise, and may be unsustainable,” Mr Major said.
"For the overall wellbeing of the country, Mr Johnson should not remain in Downing Street... for any longer than necessary to effect the smooth transition of government.
“In such a circumstance the prime minister maintains the power of patronage and, of even greater concern, the power to make decisions which will affect the lives of those within all four nations of the United Kingdom and further afield.
Such interventions from former leaders are rare, making Mr Major’s move all the more significant.
Even Johnson's much-maligned former adviser Dominic Cummings wrote on Twitter: "Evict TODAY or he'll cause CARNAGE, even now he's playing for time & will try to stay. No 'dignity', no 'interim while leadership contest'."
Johnson resigned as Tory leader but could not help himself as he delivered a broadside at the "eccentric" decision by Cabinet colleagues and MPs to force him out.
The reality of his demise, which had seen almost 60 MPs quit government or party posts since Tuesday, dawned on him as he faced the media to confirm his departure. However, even then he could not help himself and had to have another dig at those who abandoned him.
"As we've seen, at Westminster the herd instinct is powerful, when the herd moves, it moves," the prime minister said.
He acknowledged that "in politics, no one is remotely indispensable".
No grace, no dignity.
The backlash from party grandees and political opponents over his attempt to "cling on" in No 10 until the autumn was palpable and it was all very unseemly.
In a telling move, US President Joe Biden released a statement stressing "the special relationship" between the US and UK "remains strong and enduring,” but did not mention Johnson by name at all.
From an Irish perspective, the words of both Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney were indicative of how bad relations have become between Dublin and London.
Mr Martin’s hopes that a new British prime minister will signal a “renewal of relationship” for Ireland and Britain are clearly borne out of a frustration of dealing with Johnson’s erratic lying and skulduggery.
He said: “It’s fair to say that over the last while that relationship has come under strain, and there have been significant challenges.”
Mr Coveney also sought to emphasise the positives of the situation, saying that the Irish Government "stands ready" to work with a new British prime minister.
"The Irish government stands ready to work with a new UK PM on protecting our shared achievements in the peace process and our shared responsibility under international law on Brexit. Let's start with getting a government in Stormont,” he said.
In Dublin, behind the scenes the relief that Johnson is gone is palpable but is somewhat cautioned by the fear of who might replace him.
There is some hope, as articulated by Thomas Byrne, the European affairs minister, that a new prime minister would withdraw the bill that seeks to unwind the protocol and seek a solution.
Others are not so sure.
One senior minister, speaking privately said that whoever took over would still be beholden to the deeply Eurosceptic wing of the Tory party, who will extract a high price from any would-be candidate for their support.
They assessed the risk of the whole thing collapsing at about 50:50.
These are dangerous times and after almost three years of sheer chaos in Downing Street, leaders in Dublin, Washington, and Brussels will be hoping that a more moderate leader can emerge but, unlike Theresa May, with enough support to finally put the Brexit issue to bed.
It is utterly shameful that after so much hard work and effort to get Anglo-Irish relations to such a good place a decade ago that we now find relations so poisoned by the irrationality of Johnson and his cronies.
It cannot really get any worse than this. Can it?
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