LET he who has never accepted a luxury winter holiday worth £15,000 from a mystery donor cast the first stone.

This week, many expressed their shock and dismay that Boris Johnson – the man who the parliamentary standards committee once described as having an “over-casual attitude towards obeying the rules of the house” – has proven to be no less shifty now he occupies the highest office in the land.

The row centres around a trip to Mustique that Boris Johnson took with his girlfriend Carrie Symonds shortly after his General Election win. In the register of members’ interests, Johnson said the trip was funded by Carphone Warehouse co-funder David Ross. Which would – and did – raise questions in of itself, but the mystery only deepened when Ross denied funding the luxury getaway.

He said the extent of his involvement was in helping arrange the trip but admitted that it wasn’t his cash that paid for the prime minister’s winter sun.

To add to the confusion, Ross later clarified his original clarification and said that because he had been responsible for the aforementioned “arrangements” – Johnson’s register was correct in claiming it was he who had gifted him such a generous “benefit-in-kind”.

The media immediately smelled a rat and were on the case, asking questions and demanding answers.

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That’s the media’s job, but I wonder if we are perhaps asking too much of Boris Johnson. He might be our prime minister, but surely he is entitled to a private life?

If he wants to take a private winter holiday, paid for with private money, with the private girlfriend that he had a private drunken confrontation with that led to the police being called – surely that’s his business and his alone?

When it comes to Boris Johnson – and ONLY BORIS JOHNSON – the press behave like vultures, circling around the most powerful man in the UK and pestering him with inconvenient questions like: “Can you remember how many children you’ve fathered?” and: “When will you stop supressing the Russia report?”

They even have the gall to bring up Boris Johnson’s own words to drill him on whether he still stands by disparaging statements he has made about Muslim women, black people, Scots and Liverpudlians. The cheek of it all.

Not content with casting a dark shadow over what was meant to be a lovely holiday with one of his most favourite girlfriends, the press ramped up their demands this week by quizzing him on his policy ideas, of all things. The lad just wants to build a wee bridge to connect Scotland to Northern Ireland. Yet rather than welcoming his ambition the press decided to piss all over it.

Why-oh-why do they insist on crushing his dreams with FACTS?

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After all, many long bridges have been built across the world. That they have been overseen by governments far more competent than the current UK Government is irrelevant. According to one engineer, the 22-mile route has water that is more than 1000ft deep and, as such, would require 54 support towers to be built at heights never achieved anywhere else in the world.

And yes, there’s more than 1.5 million tonnes of munitions lurking in the watery depths which might make for tricky construction conditions, considering we don’t know specifically where they lie.

But if anybody can do it, Boris can. This is a man who has convinced thousands of women to sleep with him despite the fact he resembles a mop that is nearing the end of its useful life. He can do anything he puts his mind to. Except pick his own kids out of a line up.

How they can look into his angelic face – his eyes wide with hope and unknown stimulants – and be so cruel as to mock him for his optimism is beyond me.

His critics often suggest he is afraid of scrutiny, which is absurd. They must have missed the weekly sessions of “people’s question time” he helpfully livestreams on the internet, sometimes wearing pants, sometimes not. Cynics say his team hand-pick softball questions the prime minister is briefed on in advance. They scoff at our Dear Leader’s attempt to connect with the public and bring politics into the digital age. Shame on them. Without those weekly sessions, we would know NOTHING about Boris Johnson’s favourite breakfast cereal, or what he thought of the Game of Thrones finale. And we would all be worse off for it.

We should be mindful of where this press obsession with government scrutiny will end. It could lead us down a dark and dangerous path, where ministers are expected to tell the truth and government cockups lead to unnecessarily judgemental headlines.

Before you know it, the press will be insisting on unfettered access to lobby briefings, regardless of whether they have been nice to the Prime Minister or not. Imagine!