I shall not join in the public chorus of "j'accuse!" against Boris Johnson – Yorkshire Post Letters

It is rather ironic that a classicist like Boris Johnson should have been subject to the modern equivalent of the mob: mauled by the media and social media, before whom politicians seem peculiarly acquiescent.

The inquisitorial nature of his interrogation before the Privileges Committee, had all the classic hallmarks of a show trial, in which he was held to be vicariously responsible for the actions of others (civil servants) and presumed, rather than proven, to have "deliberately" mislead Parliament.

The clamour on the media and social media to bring him down was incessant. It is a tribute to his courage and fortitude that he has withstood such an ordeal.

What I find most unconscionable, however, is the way in which certain newspapers and broadcasters have encouraged people to focus all their personal grief and frustrations upon him. They ignore the fact that he himself was admitted to intensive care, and that his mother died during a lockdown.

So did my sister, who had vascular dementia and suffered grievously. But I have not, and shall not, join in the public chorus of "j'accuse!"

I am a libertarian and thus averse to concepts like lockdown. But I also recognise that that was the prevailing orthodoxy, and well intentioned. The foolish behaviour of young civil servants et al., does not detract from that fact.