Hysterical ?  Not so far ? You may be yet.  But hysteria  is no way to reach balanced judgement.  A comment in the press recently pointed out, quite rightly,  that the comparison drawn by some between Johnson et Al (and there in a word is the limitation of the classics set out for all to see, the words  should clearly read Johnson et Dom) to the Nazi regime are wide of the mark.  They are.  It is unthinkable that any British government would ever even contemplate some minor of the more minor atrocities committed by Hitler’s government. But that does not invalidate all comparison to the rise and concentration of the party through the depressed, demoralised Germany of the 1930s.

More tellingly, there are specks of comparison that can be made between Johnson’s rule and that of the dictator, Ioseb Dzhugashvili, better known as Stalin, which is not to say that Johnson is a mass murderer.  A key point is the ruthlessness with which any independent thought or opinion is no longer tolerated in his ruling party: members of the Party must be – and are – true believers, ability counts for nothing, or less.  The damage that they will inflict is simply disregarded as “collateral.”  And then there is the centralisation of power; the re-writing of history; distain for public opinion; the slogans;  the regime in which “one rule for us, one rule for them,” has become the norm.  Stalin tried to drive Russia into the twentieth century and reduced it to an economic husk: Brexit will do the same.  I will say one thing for Stalin: at least he bothered to comb his hair.

Be Stalin’s reputation as it may, Johnson’s already looks set: he will enter the history books as the most corrupt and most incompetent prime minister we have, yet, endured.  The writing is on the wall.