Explosions aside, Boris Johnson is still The One and no politician can match him

WHEN it comes to a ripe turn of phrase, no ­politician alive today can match Boris Johnson.

The man who gave us the “polished turd” to describe Theresa May’s half-in, half-out Brexit surrender is in a class of his own.

Now he is at it again, ­comparing Mrs May’s Chequers proposal to a “suicide vest” wrapped around British sovereignty, with Brussels holding the trigger.

Millions of fans of TV’s Bodyguard will respond to this image, recalling the moment heart-throb Richard Madden was almost blown to smithereens by an Islamist terrorist.

It also revives memories of the recent “letterbox” jibe at Muslim women wearing burkas.

Each new calibrated explosion puts Boris on Page One, enraging his enemies, delighting his supporters and generating the headlines he craves.

The man is a publicity phenomenon — one of the few people on the planet instantly identifiable by his first name.

His blond thatch is a gift to cartoonists. Endearingly, he makes us laugh. He is without real malice.

But is BoJo the statesman we need to lead this nation?

When fame flirts with infamy, does it help his lifelong ambition to be PM?

Publicity, as the philandering ex-Foreign Secretary learned last week, is a double-edged sword.

The Sun scoop about his divorce from loyal wife Marina after another scandalous liaison with a pretty blonde was not part of his strategy. It was good, old-fashioned journalism versus stubborn resistance.

After all, who wants the world to know your own daughter thinks you are a “selfish bastard”?

Voters would be entitled to wonder if a man who won’t keep his fly zipped can be trusted with the keys to Number Ten.

In fact, the latest bombshell is unlikely to harm BoJo’s enduring popularity.

By his own frank admission, he is insatiable. “My policy on cake is pro-having it and ­pro-eating it,” he says.

But BoJo’s enemies — including Theresa May — intend to make him pay for his ramshackle private life.

Number Ten rightly denies leaking details of his affair with an ex-Tory staffer.

But their name is all over a secret dossier now in circulation, smearing Mrs May’s greatest rival.

It was compiled in 2016 after the Brexit vote, but the “Kill Boris” agenda, led yesterday by his disloyal former deputy Sir Alan Duncan, remains in full swing today.

Plan A is to prevent a leadership frenzy at next month’s party conference.

Plan B is to stop Tory Party members picking Boris from one of the final two candidates.

This is a massive gamble for a party which, despite the near-disintegration of Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party, is four points behind in the polls.

Tories, together with swathes of voters in all parties, are totally behind both Brexit and Boris. They believe he is right about “chucking Chequers”.

Most fear it is a sell-out, leaving Britain a vassal state with no say in the EU but taking orders from it. Many prefer the risk of a clean- break Brexit to forking out £40BILLION and still accepting mass immigration, the single market and the rulings of the European Court of Justice.

And, like many MPs who believe Boris is the only Tory who can save their seats from a disastrous Marxist coup, they want the chance to see him run.

He is miles ahead of nearest rival Sajid Javid, whose impressive start as Home Secretary is marred only by his ill-judged support for Remain and his worryingly close ties with Project Fear’s George Osborne.

Jeremy Hunt, another late Brexit convert, is in third place.

Theresa May has surely taught her party it must not pick another Remainer as leader.

Boris is not the perfect alternative. Nor is anyone else.

But he did deliver the Brexit vote, he does want to take back control and he has put his money — and his job — where his mouth is.

In this populist age, he is the most popular politician in the land. He can refresh the votes other politicians cannot reach.

It would be a betrayal of democracy if his rivals and enemies conspired to stop him having the chance.