Boris has been sacked!!!!

Difficult to know what to make of this. On the one hand, I don't to be seen to be condoning people (especially high-profile) people lying about their conduct, or having affairs.

However, Boris was sacked, not because he'd had an affair, but because Mr Howard believed he had been "less than franK" in his discussions about the allegations. This presumably means that Howard had some information (other than tabloid allegations) that Boris (I find it impossible to address him as "Johnston") had had an affair. Or how else could he have known that Boris was being "less than frank"? The only other option is that he took at face value the allegations made in Sunday tabloids (scarcely the most reliable source of actual news) and presumed Boris was guilty until proven innocent. Which, of course, would be totally out of character from Mr Howard...

The fact remains that Howard has now sacked one of the few Conservative MPs that people a) liked or b) actually had heard of from a very high position and one of the few who could stand a chance of challenging Blair. Short-sighted? Probably. But then, that's the Conservative party these days for you.