The inability by members of the Conservative Party to understand the seriousness of their failure as a Government as a whole is deeply concerning. As these two tweets indicate the Foreign Secretary believes Ministers should be free to jettison the Ministerial code when it suits them. Perhaps when he tweeted this Boris was still smarting from his telling off by Andrew Patrick, the British Ambassador to Myanmar for reciting a Kipling poem whilst visiting the Shwedagon Pagoda at the end of September. Then for Eric Pickles to agree with Tim Montgomerie that the criticism of Priti Patel was in effect a form of anti-semitism is just as disturbing. Going to Israel and promising International Development funding for the army to do go work with Syrian refugees, when they  also cause enormous suffering to the Palestinian people and when such an offer has not even been discussed with the Government is catastrophic for all sides. Equally to use insulting language in a nation which prides itself on hospitality at one level, yet needs taking to task for its death and destruction of the Rohingya people greatly diminishes the prospect of addressing such injustices. Many people have argued that Priti Patel is inexperienced and lacked the understanding regarding her role. Even Boris could be argued to be new to the Cabinet in terms of a senior national role. The fact is that the two of them represented the Government and it is the Government that needs to take responsibilities for its failings. If an employee of an company makes a mistake, it is the companies reputation that gets damaged, not just the employee’s. Indeed the people who observe the failing may well choose to end their relationship with the company unless the company shows itself capable of doing a lot more than sacking the employee.

As we face two ‘resignations’ from the Government in seven days and the failure in Myanmar by Boris Johnson and now his complete incompetence in suggesting Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was teaching journalism whilst on holiday in Iran in front of the televised Foreign Affairs Committee a third resignation or perhaps more accurately dismissal is needed. The truth is that so many of our nations Ministers have caused our nation to face reputational damage that our standing across the world is on a very steep slope downwards and something significant is needed to put this right. One more sacking is needed but we actually need a much more significant medium term solution.