What should we expect of our Prime Minister?

Put bluntly, Boris Johnson’s behaviour as PM is causing widespread alarm – and not just among opposition politicians.

Many senior Conservatives, including former Prime Minister John Major, are on record as questioning his fitness for high office. Mr Johnson’s own brother and sister – think about that – have made it clear they think he is unsuitable for the UK’s top job.

These days you often see a Person Specification attached to a job description, outlining the essential qualities needed for the post.

I wonder how Boris Johnson would fare in such a test.

First off, the position of Prime Minister requires someone of unusual integrity.

He or she should be a role model to the whole country.

And that means all the people of our diverse nation, whatever their religion, class, gender, race, age or background.

By that test Johnson has to be marked a failure.

He has even been referred to the police over his close relationship with Jennifer Arcuri during his tenure as Mayor of London, and whether the large sums of taxpayers’ money she received were illegal payments.

Unfortunately, ignoring the law seems to be a pastime favoured by Mr Johnson.

Take the unprecedented verdict by no less than eleven senior judges in the Supreme Court that Mr Johnson misled the Queen when he advised her proroguing Parliament was legal.

If anyone should promote the rule of law it should be a Prime Minister.

Instead Mr Johnson has brazenly claimed the verdict was flawed without offering a shred of legal argument to back up his case.

Such a lack of humility is deeply worrying for a man with his level of power.

It also means only a fool would trust him to behave with honour when it comes to clinging onto power.

Hence we have witnessed the bizarre situation of opposition parties not daring to vote for a general election in case Mr Johnson uses his powers as PM to set a date for it after 31st October.

This would mean a no deal Brexit by default, an unthinkable situation not just for the harm it would inflict on our economy and public services. No deal Brexit has been explicitly outlawed by statute in the Benn Act.

It is as illegal as stealing a car or mugging a granny.

It speaks volumes about Mr Johnson’s fitness for office that trusting him to tell the truth and keep his word is risky. As no less a person than the Queen recently found out.

Another key quality for any decent Prime Minister is the ability to bring the country together and solve social problems.

This has never been more important than today. Britain is a horribly divided nation, and not just around Brexit. Housing inequalities, the environmental crisis, a crumbling NHS and social care system, sickening wealth gaps between rich and poor, low pay and a lack of job security are fuelling tensions up and down the land.

In such a crisis a responsible PM would avoid inflammatory language. Mr Johnson, however, takes the opposite approach.

Indeed, he seems to be actively seeking to provoke a so-called people vs parliament election by using emotive terms like “surrender Act” and “betrayal”, and by pooh poohing the dangers of intemperate language for our democracy as “humbug”.

Johnson’s claim that the best way to honour the memory of murdered MP Jo Cox is to deliver Brexit represented a new low.

It implies that if MPs wish to avoid being murdered they should jettison their political beliefs and obey his government’s far from universally popular policies.

Let’s be clear, the only people ever allowed a say on whether Mr Johnson should lead the nation were the 180 thousand members of the Conservative Party. He has no popular mandate whatsoever.

No one can safely predict what this over-indulged, privileged, ruthlessly ambitious man will do to ensure he remains Prime Minister, a job he has longed for since childhood.

One thing is certain, a politician is best judged by their deeds not words. Behind Boris Johnson’s jovial exterior lies a disturbing track record indeed.