Boris Johnson caused outrage and anger when he claimed the Tory government did 'everything possible' to limit the number of Covid deaths in the UK. Photo: PA

Author, journalist and former Downing Street Press Secretary, Alastair Campbell has said while Boris Johnson cannot be blamed for all 100,000 Covid deaths, he and his Cabinet can certainly be held responsible for many of them. Photo: PA

It is hard to overstate the scale of the catastrophe over which Boris Johnson has presided.

And while he cannot be blamed for all 100,000 Covid deaths, he and his Cabinet can certainly be held responsible for many of them.

Well, no, Mr Johnson, you did not.

You did not take it seriously when the virus developed, because you were too busy ‘celebrating’ Brexit, and sorting your private life.

You got ill because you didn’t take it seriously.

p:nth-of-type(6)","type":"performPlaceholder","relativePos":"after"}" data-placeholder-placeholder="" data-response-start="4814.855000004172" data-type="placeholder">You couldn’t be bothered to chair crisis meetings.

You boasted about shaking hands when told not to.

You claimed British exceptionalism would see us through without lockdown.

You encouraged the country to go racing for what turned out to be a super-spreader event.

Too slow on lockdown (three times), too slow on masks, too slow on PPE, too slow on tests at borders, too slow to get the Army involved, all too quick to reward your chums and donors with contracts for jobs they couldn’t do.

‘NHS’ Test and Trace my foot – a multi-billion pound private sector jolly at public expense.

NHS vaccination – at last something working reasonably well, because finally the NHS is in charge.

You spread the virus in care homes. You paid us to ‘eat out to help out’. You threatened to sue schools that didn’t open. You failed to plan for them being shut.

You were so keen for a few ‘Boris saves Christmas’ headlines that you put the health of the nation at risk once more, despite this time knowing all the risks.

Now you say you’re sorry, and you say you take responsibility.

What does that even mean when you continue to claim you did ‘everything possible’ to protect the health of the nation and continue, as at Prime Minister’s Questions today, to present the government handling of the crisis as a success story.

It is like watching the manager of Accrington Stanley tell us how he masterminded triumph in the Champions League.

Recently the entire Dutch Cabinet resigned over a scandal that would not even register on Johnson’s moral and ethical compass.

The only resignation this government has seen was from Dominic Cummings, and that was not because he broke election law, or broke Covid guidelines and so shattered public trust in government messaging, but because he was rude about Johnson’s current bed-mate.

Yes, Johnson has faced an enormous challenge. But by any reckoning he has failed to meet it, and there is little sign he has learned the lessons of that failure.

We have the worst possible Cabinet at the worst possible time.

The worst possible Prime Minister at the worst possible time.

If Johnson had an ounce of integrity, honesty, and self-awareness, he would go.

The worst death toll in the world is reason enough, but there are plenty more, and they all flow from one inescapable fact – He. Just. Cannot. Do. It.