Throughout Boris Johnson’s life, there have been two consistent themes, both of which were on display this weekend. The first is the capacity to surprise us. The second is the belief that inconvenient rules do not apply to him.
That brings us to the vexed question of his marital status. A considerable number of Roman Catholic clergymen would take the view that no-one who is already married in the eyes of Holy Church should be allowed to remarry in an RC church. Secular divorce would not count. Apart from death, they would insist that the only way to end a marriage is annulment. The suggestion is that the authorities of Westminster Cathedral decided otherwise. As the Roman Church had nothing to do with Boris’ earlier marriages, they concluded that they did not count. That is a curious, indeed controversial, ruling – which would appear to confirm Boris’ view that rules are for others. It would seem to mean that the Church might condone bigamy, as long as the bigamist had kept clear of a Catholic nuptial.
