One thing that the parties of the Left seem to consistently fail to understand across different Western democracies is when you “weaponise” the legal system against a popular populist leader, it usually makes them stronger.
This is true of what is happening to Donald Trump in the USA where he appears to be on course to take the Republican nomination and the White House despite the legal issues he is facing.
And it is now true of Boris Johnson where Parliamentary procedures and committees have, for his many supporters, been weaponised to bring him down on what they believe are trivial matters.
The parade of Labour, SNP and Lib Dem MPs virtuously pronouncing their disgust in him and describing him as a liar were the sort of statements which only persuade the persuaded.
For many more, the words of MPs like Grimsby’s Lia Nici or former minister Jacob Rees-Mogg will have had more of a ring of truth.
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This was a committee determined to get Mr Johnson and bring him down to get a Labour government and undo Brexit.
But more than that the line of Tories coming out to support the report will, to them, confirm the enemy within.
There was the mix of bitter revenge from MPs like former Prime Minister Theresa May who was deposed by Johnson and his supporters.
There was the ambition of Leader of the House Penny Mordaunt who has now positioned herself as the left of the Conservative Party’s champion in a future leadership contest.
Then there were the usual Remainer liberal Tories like Sir Peter Bottomley who despised Johnson anyway and, frankly, at the end of their political careers had little to lose.
So, the question is who leads the party out of the ruins.
With party members already wanting to deselect MPs who opposed Boris, the answer to that question must be someone endorsed by the former Prime Minister.
The anger caused by this “show trial” and the “vindictive” punishment should ease his path back in the future.
And at some point, when the party wants a leader who knows how to win again the chances are they will turn to the man who took them to glory in 2019 and captured the Red Wall.
But today’s events will have an unintended effect which should worry all MPs.
As we saw in America with the attempts to impeach Trump by the Democrats morphing into Republican attempts to impeach Joe Biden, the use of these mechanisms to bring down a leader, once used, are repeated by opponents.
Imagine if the Privileges Committee had investigated Sir Tony Blair for the lies which took Britain into the Iraq war, more than one Tory MP has mused.
With a Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer they will be looking for their opportunities and the newly weaponised parliamentary procedures will be the first choice of many Tories.
So while the big winner was Boris Johnson, the biggest loser may have been Parliament itself.
