When he announced his resignation on 7 July, Boris Johnson insisted it was crucial that he stay in office until a new prime minister was ready to take over.
He rejected the suggestion he should hand over to his deputy, Dominic Raab, as an interim premier – claiming it would be unacceptable to leave a vacuum at the heart of Government.
But that vacuum has come anyway. This week the prime minister has been on holiday in Greece, his second getaway in three weeks, and his spokesman admitted he was not even reading Government papers. “I get the feeling No 10 have completely checked out,” one Whitehall official said. “It’s really bad.”
The rot started to set in within days of Mr Johnson’s decision to step down. Ministers had expected a rush of legislation during the two weeks between his resignation and the start of the summer recess, which the Prime Minister could then point to in years to come as evidence of his policy legacy.
But key Bills – in particular, the Online Safety Bill which has been more than three years in the making – were rapidly yanked off the agenda. And as that happened government departments rapidly emptied of civil servants.
Figures obtained by i reveal that in the week the PM resigned, Whitehall offices were half empty with only 55 per cent of officials present.
Two weeks later, as the Conservative leadership campaign got under way, it fell to only 35 per cent, with nearly two third of civil servants either absent or working from home. Just 20 per cent of Defra were present, with only 22 per cent coming in to the Foreign Office.
BoJo isn't just running a lame duck government. The duck is floating upside down.
The "how could anybody tell?" joke is far too obvious and therefore worth no points.
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