When the going got tough, the perennial public schoolboy, Boris Johnson, got running. Having seen an advance copy of a House of Commons Privileges Committee report which found him guilty of having knowingly and egregiously lied to Parliament about Downing Street lockdown parties, Johnson simply ran away.
Too spineless to face the judgment of the Privileges Committee who had deliberated for a year and had a majority of Conservative members, Johnson accused them of being a "kangaroo court" whose purpose had been "to find me guilty, regardless of the facts".
In another break from the standards of parliamentary behaviour, in a callous and highly personal attack he specifically accused the chair of the committee, Labour's Harriet Harman, of showing "egregious bias".
His outburst could have been the reason the committee removed all his parliamentary privileges, meaning Johnson will have to queue up to enter the parliamentary estate just like any other visitor.
There can be no greater humiliation as this decision places Johnson beyond the pale and exiled from parliament.
While the optics of all this was already bad enough for the Tories, Johnson seems to have decided to take the whole party down with him by starting a war of words with the current party leader, Rishi Sunak.
While Sunak denies personally blocking peerage nominations from Johnson, it transpired that he had refused to intervene and overturn decisions when some of Johnson's nominees, including Nadine Dorries, were rejected by the Lords' appointments committee.
One nomination of Johnson's which managed to get passed may yet prove to be more troublesome than those which were blocked – the elevation to dame of 29-year-old Charlotte Owen, a special adviser who only worked for Johnson for just over a year.
We can but wonder why such a junior political operator deserved becoming the UK's youngest ever life peer...
I mentioned Johnson being a public schoolboy as many in the present Tory government are ex-Eton boys.
A former headmaster of the school named John Claughton, who taught many of today's Tory luminaries between 1984-2001, wrote a letter to The Times highlighting one of the school's biggest problems.
Mr Claughton argued that the most important mission of the school going forward was to "ensure its pupils are saved from the sense of privilege, entitlement and omniscience" that can produce alumni such as Boris Johnson, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Kwasi Kwarteng and Ben Elliott, and thereby damage a country's very fabric.
Sadly, he admitted to having "failed in that purpose", now obviously guilt-ridden for having helped create such individuals.
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JUST when I thought British politics exhausted the list of spoiled brats full of entitlement and hubris, I was brought up short by one of our own, Ian 'Permatan' Paisley.
In the same mould as Boris and his ilk, Permatan Paisley was yet another brat born with a golden rather than silver spoon in his mouth.
Having been born into the family business Ballymena's dilettante MP inherited his constituency from his late father and never fails to play the role of parliamentary clown.
Last week he featured on mainstream media – not for passing a Westminster bill nor dealing with a constituency problem, but for having aided a US rock group get their private jet landed in London.
Legendary heavy metal band Kiss found themselves circling as the airspace over London was closed due to a visit by Ukrainian leader, President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Someone had the bright idea of reaching out for help and for some reason, Paisley's number was available. Once the band made contact, it was reported that the North Antrim MP ensured the necessary levers were pulled and the band's plane landed.
But the Paisley generosity didn't end there, for while Kiss frontman Gene Simmons may have the longest tongue in show business, it was Paisley who was doing the licking.
Once on the ground, he gave the rock star a private tour of the House of Commons and got him in to watch deputy prime minister's questions.
There were even pictures of Paisley basking in the reflected glory of his new best friend. I suspect his constituents would prefer their MP devoted as much time to their pressing needs as he lavishes on visiting metalheads.
