Boris Johnson does not get to pick and choose what voters care about

Another week and another story that Boris Johnson thought was in his rear-view mirror is back in the news – this time, the evacuation from Afghanistan of cats and dogs alongside the staff of Pen Farthing’s animal charity.

Josie Stewart – a senior official at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) – has said it was “widespread knowledge” that the decision to help Nowzad “came from the prime minister”. It is something the Foreign Office and Downing Street have repeatedly denied. Stewart, the second whistleblower to come forward, said in written evidence to the parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee that such was her concern about the handling of the Afghan crisis and the evacuation from Kabul she accepted that speaking out would likely mean losing her job.

Add to that the comments from Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, at her first press conference since returning to the UK, and Johnson’s level of discomfort will be growing. Zaghari-Ratcliffe said she had seen five foreign secretaries during her six-year detention in Iran (including the current prime minister): “That is unprecedented given the politics of the UK... I was told many, many times that ‘Oh we're going to get you home... ’ That never happened.”

“I mean, how many foreign secretaries does it take for someone to come home? Five?” she added.

Johnson and his government never seem to be able to escape from stories: a symbol of an administration that seeks to “move on” from things without ever actually clearing them up fully. The furore over Partygate is another prominent example. At the Conservative spring conference last week, Jacob Rees-Mogg dismissed rows over the parties that took place in Downing Street and Whitehall during Covid lockdowns as “fluff” and “fundamentally trivial”. He added that the Russian invasion of Ukraine “was a reminder that the world is serious”.

There is no doubting the importance of the crisis in Ukraine, but the government appears to be continually making the mistake that the electorate has short memories. I doubt that many of the public will want to move on swiftly once the results of the Met's Partygate investigation is complete.

Johnson may be quick to remind the electorate that he “got Brexit done” – at least in his view – with a crass comparison to the situation in Ukraine that has rightly been heavily criticised, and has left ministers in his cabinet having to explain away the remark. The prime minister is said to regret his comments – but it is a reminder that Boris Johnson does not get to pick and choose how the public sees his tenure in Downing Street.