We have all come across such personalities. The reckless friend or irritating colleague who, with their often-superficial charisma, believe they can cut corners to get what they want. Rules are for other people and careless with detail, their abilities are either exaggerated or wasted.

Normally, the consequences of their actions are minor, or any damaging impact is confined to them personally. Not if you are Prime Minister.

This blog has warned about Johnson’s personality from the start. Loose with the truth, reckless with the unwritten constitution and breezily ignoring the details of each political job he has held, he has stopped at nothing to reach the top rung of politics. The trail of destruction is manifest. A tactical swerve to supporting Brexit, empty promises of Brexit’s benefits, fulfilling a policy vacuum with the appointment of the ‘anarchical’ Dominic Cummings, playing fast and loose with the rights of Parliament, the destruction of Tory moderates. The list goes on. If you are Arlene Foster/the DUP, a Scottish unionist, a Cornish fisherman, a Permanent Secretary recently ousted, a former member of Theresa May’s cabinet or even Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, you will have suffered the consequences.

But it has worked. The Labour Red Wall fell with frustrations over endless Brexit wrangling and Jeremy Corbyn’s incompetence and extremism, creating the perfect environment for Johnson to prosper.

Like every chancer, he will not stop until he really screws up. And you will have to wait a while. Nobody could predict the pandemic but huge errors in its management have been subsumed by the welcome success of the vaccine roll out. Only a public enquiry will shine a real light on government actions but don’t hold your breath. And recent revelations of his alleged comments about Covid victims and how the Downing Street refurbishment was paid, whilst damaging straws in the wind, are not yet enough, one feels, to do lasting harm.

The relationship of Tory MPs with Johnson has always been transactional. There is mostly no innate loyalty towards this most unTory of Tory leaders. If he keeps winning elections, he will keep his job but, if not, the end will be swift. One suspects that end is not in sight, particularly as the Tories are forecast to do well in elections next week. Starmer, disappointingly, hasn’t found his feet and with a feeble Cabinet there are no strong internal contenders to replace him. Add to this the fact that there are many other things worrying voters in this most extraordinary of times and one predicts Johnson is safe for now.

But Johnson is Prime Minister and the consequences of his personality and actions gradually mount; more cynical disdain for the role of politicians and their morality; more pushing of the envelope through donations to buy influence, less scrutiny of government as the role of judicial oversight is weakened, greater threats to the Union as Johnson’s Brexit promises unravel and, in the longer run, an unknown future for a Conservative Party which has been accidentally repositioned.

Many commentators warned about the consequences of a Johnson premiership. When the accident happens, Johnson’s fall may well be brutal but not quite as consequential as the long-term damage currently taking place to public life.

In the meantime, any complaints should be directed to Johnson’s private mobile phone number which has apparently been publicly available for the last fifteen years…

Not so long ago my small company paid just US$20,000 less in annual corporation tax than a large American corporation did in Europe that year. I would like to say it was a reflection of my company’s global domination but, sadly, no. The difference in turnover was several billion dollars and not in the right direction! So frustrated was I by the workings of capitalism and the global tax system, particularly for the ‘little person’, I was tempted, but of course resisted, an embrace of socialism…

Move on to today and we have a 78-year-old President Biden looking to achieve things most commentators said couldn’t be done. Incidentally why are the Republicans allowed to attack him for senility in such a blatant way? Are there not laws against ageism in the US?

Biden is seeking both to achieve a minimum corporation tax globally, designed to prevent multinational corporations from shifting profits to low-tax jurisdictions, and to pursue a proposal which would allow countries to charge corporation tax on the largest multinationals based on sales in that country. Biden has asserted US leadership on this issue and may well succeed. Germany and France are broadly in favour, low corporation tax countries like the Netherlands and particularly Ireland are making conciliatory noises. It will also head off the need for the EU to go solo with all the trade tensions that might cause. The UK has already conceded that ever lower corporation tax rates are not the solution to boost economies and close deficits, with sharp rises on the way.

Raising corporation tax to more uniform and fair levels has the added benefit of narrowing wealth disparity and allowing infrastructure investment. Leading business figures who have benefitted from many tax perks over the years talk about threats to capitalism and Environmental, Social and Governance concerns. It is time to put their money where their mouth is.

On the back of this, Biden is planning huge infrastructure investment through his US$2.3 trillion American Jobs Plan on top of his US$1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. Whilst there are legitimate worries about fiscal strains and inflation, the time feels right. Anyone travelling in America would notice that a long-term threat to its future is its crumbling infrastructure and it is time to level the playing field somewhat by business picking up part of the bill through fairer, broader based taxes.

And Biden, having grasped the Covid threat, has also found time, presumably with highly competent aides, for pulling troops out of Afghanistan, imposing sanctions on Russia, reviving the Iran deal and tackling climate change, all without barely a tweet. In comparison, the Trump years seem more damaging every day.

There are many hurdles ahead but three cheers for grown up politics and the wisdom of age!