Another day, another inquiry for beleaguered Boris Johnson - The Yorkshire Post says

The Prime Minister insisted he was taking allegations from Tory MP Nusrat Ghani that her Muslim faith played a role in being sacked as a junior minister “extremely seriously”.

She said that when she raised the matter with Mr Johnson directly after losing her job in a February 2020 ministerial reshuffle, he told her he could not get involved.

So after two years of inaction, the matter is now extremely serious for Mr Johnson?

Yet again he appears to be insulting the intelligence of his colleagues, his party and the public at large.

He has asked the Cabinet Office to “establish the facts” regarding the claims of Islamophobia, meaning that a second probe is taking place in what is potentially the most important week in his premiership, one mired so deeply in allegations of lockdown parties and even whips’ blackmail that his job hangs in the balance. Meanwhile, Downing Street suggested it may be up to

Mr Johnson to decide what is published from Sue Gray’s report into the “partygate” scandal, whose publication is expected this week, amid concerns staff were also keeping back key evidence because it would be seen by the Prime Minister.

As media and MPs in the Commons fired questions at the him that required yes-or-no responses, Mr Johnson pleaded for them to wait for the conclusion of the Ms Gray’s inquiry, a line echoed by doting Ministers.

It was a mockery of public office that he could not answer for himself in the first instance and, should the most telling elements of the report not see light of day, it would plainly be a cover-up – and an ineffective one at that, for the whiff of scandal has already clung.

Whether Mr Johnson is in a job this time next week remains to be seen, but the damage to his authority and reputation is surely lasting.