Rhodes on paranoia, another police probe and a lack of democracy in Downing Street

A reader accuses me of “sidestepping” the row over Boris's slur about Jimmy Savile and Keir Starmer by writing instead about alleged drug abuse in the House of Commons. Damn right and guilty as charged.

Why? Because a row about a prime minister's consumption of cake or one politician slagging off another doesn't amount to a hill of beans compared to the prospect of our elected leaders being out of their skulls on cocaine. Especially at a time like this.

We may be on the verge of a proxy war against Russia. The very last thing we need is MPs showing the classic symptoms of cocaine abuse – over-excitement, over-confidence, paranoia, mood swings, irritability, etc.

The whole Partygate saga, which was ignored by cops, hacks and politicians when it was actually happening, has always struck me as nothing more than a get-Boris campaign, fed and orchestrated by Dominic Cummings who last week described his self-appointed task of getting Boris out of Downing Street as “unpleasant but necessary . . . like fixing the drains”,

While all eyes have been on Partygate, barely a word has been whispered about the investigation by the Metropolitan Police into alleged drug abuse in the Palace of Westminster. In December the Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle promised to refer the allegation to the police and told MPs: “I expect to see full and effective enforcement of the law.” We're waiting . . .

The numbers are still in his favour but there's still a chance that Boris Johnson may eventually be forced to stand down as Prime Minister. If that happened, the likely result would be that the Tories would get a better leader and the nation a better prime minister. But is it right? Is it fair?

Boris became PM because he persuaded millions of citizens, many of whom had never voted Conservative before, that he was the man for the job. Having been swept into Downing Street on millions of votes, how can he be swept out on a few dozen votes of disaffected Tory MPs? Is there a case for changing the law so that the dumping of a prime minister is automatically followed by a general election?

That's the sort of reform our Honourable Members should be debating. Preferably while drug-free.