Boris Johnson's political career is not over, he'll continue to stoke the populist fire - Matthew Flinders

At the core of the committee's conclusions is a psychological claim about Boris Johnson's worldview.

"His repeated and continuing denials of the facts, for example his refusal to accept that there were insufficient efforts to enforce social distancing at gatherings...The frequency with which he closed his mind to those facts and to what was obvious so that eventually the only conclusion that could be drawn was that he was deliberately closing his mind."

Anyone who knows Boris Johnson knows that he has a childlike mind where the only thing that counts is Boris and the pesky world of facts must be moulded around his interests and ambitions. Tom Bowers 'The Gambler', Andrew Gimson's 'The Rise and Fall of a Troublemaker', Sonia Purnell's 'A Tale of Blond Ambition' all tell the tale of a young man who was encouraged and allowed to think that the normal rules of life did not apply to him.

His name is not even Boris, it's Alex. 'Boris' - and all the banter and buffoonery that goes along with it - emerged as an alter-ego like character as he progressed through Eton and Oxford and wanted to stand out from the crowd.

As everyone jumps on the grave of Boris Johnson's political career and rejoices in what many appear to think is his final downfall it's worth noting that Boris Johnson has left parliament before and come back later as a rejuvenated figure. His first spell as an MP between 2001-2008 was not a success. He was viewed by his party as too flippant, a chancer, an upstart celebrity politician who was not to be trusted. As his contemporaries like David Cameron and George Osborne were promoted Johnson's parliamentary career flatlined.

Boris Johnson's political career is not over. Never have four little words in a resignation speech meant so much: 'It is very sad to be leaving Parliament - at least for now.’

The destructive denials, rejections and deep sense of martyrdom with which Boris Johnson has attempted to frame the Privileges Committee's inquiry speaks to the existence of a powerful and highly populist post-parliamentary strategy.

That is a strategy in which continues to promote 'repeated and continuing denials' with regard to any facts that simply don't fit into a populist narrative about the existence of an elite - 'the establishment', 'the blob', 'the herd' - or 'them' who are out to get 'us' (the good, honest but downtrodden folk of the world). The mind is closed to arguments that seek to moderate such a simple black-and-white world view, and Boris Johnson presents himself as the victim of oppression and the ousted leader of pro-Brexit sentiment. Before you know it Boris Johnson is back in the game as the self-selected leader of 'us' against 'them'.

What the report may well set in train is a new and potentially dangerous post-parliamentary phase in Boris Johnson's career where a man who declared as a young child that he wanted to be 'world king' is now released from the constraints of conventional political office.

The risk is that the furore surrounding the Privileges Committee's findings simply pours oil on the populist fire that Boris Johnson wants to inflame. With a bruised ego and a need for attention - combined with undoubted charisma and growing celebrity status - Boris Johnson is almost perfectly positioned to flame and funnel anti-political sentiment in order to boost and bolster his own political position and at some point create an opportunity to return to frontline politics.

Compared to those with whom we share a special relationship with across the Atlantic populism has never really taken off in the UK. Boris Johnson won the 2019 General Election for the Tories on a 'populism-lite' strategy and form of wedge politics that framed a 'pro-Remain' elite as thwarting the wishes of a 'pro-Leave' public. It was the populist predilection to play fast and free with the facts that worried so many of Johnson's parliamentary colleagues and eventually led to his ousting from No.10.

But in terms of what the next Boris 'bounce back' might look like, my prediction is for a new 'populism-heavy' post-parliamentary strategy. Political disenchantment and disillusionment whipped-up at every turn - irrespective of the facts or messy reality of day-to-day political life - in order to sow division while fulfilling one man's craving for attention.

Matthew Flinders is a professor of politics at the University of Sheffield.