After a brief coronavirus-induced grace period, the toxic polarisation that has become such a feature of British politics is back with a vengeance.

The report at the weekend by Sunday Times journalists Jonathan Calvert, George Arbuthnott and Jonathan Leake has reignited a bitter war between Boris Johnson’s government and the tribe of politicians, journalists and commentators who have been hell-bent on tearing him down ever since he switched to lead the Vote Leave campaign in 2016.