BORIS JOHNSON has had plenty of opportunities to shape the legislative agenda of the Conservative party.

In 2016, when David Cameron stepped down as Prime Minister in the wake of the Brexit referendum, Mr Johnson was widely tipped to take over at number ten. Instead, he opted not to stand in his party’s leadership election as he did not believe he was up to the job.

For the next two years, Mr Johnson served as foreign secretary under Theresa May, filling one of the most important posts in the cabinet. He was sitting around the table when the Conservatives moulded their Brexit programme and had ample opportunities to shape his party’s response to an issue that has long dominated his political agenda.

In the 48 hours after the cabinet’s Chequers meeting to finalise a Brexit strategy, he spoke in support of the compromise that was agreed by Mrs May. The following day, however, his toys came out of the pram and he resigned from his post.

So it is completely disingenuous for the former foreign secretary to claim that “the scandal” of Brexit is “that we have not even tried”. If he was ‘not trying’ during his 24 months in the cabinet, what on earth was he being paid for?

By sniping from the sidelines, Mr Johnson is attempting to nudge himself into pole position for a future leadership contest. However, leadership is a skill he has repeatedly failed to display throughout the Brexit process.