BORIS Johnson is a very funny, very clever, very interesting fellow. An ideal drinking buddy or dinner party guest.

He has skilfully created an image as a bicycling buffoon which has made him the third most recognisable Tory MP after leader Michael Howard and former leader William Hague.

But beneath that image lurks an extremely bright and agile mind. And, whatever his tomfoolery, he is also extremely sincere about his politics.

Well-known, witty, warm and genuine - surely an asset to any party.

Yet Mr Howard was right to dismiss him, even though Mr Johnson's downfall was rooted in a private matter.

Mr Johnson initially dismissed rumours of his affair as "an inverted pyramid of piffle". It's a clever-sounding phrase that brings a smile to the lips, but it reveals Mr Johnson's weaknesses. He hadn't realised the seriousness of his position. Instead of confronting the truth, he tried to turn it into a piece of cleverness and bumptiously gloss over it - even to the extent of misleading his leader.

In other circumstances, a minor mislead over a private matter may not prove terminal. But after the silliness of Mr Johnson's Liverpool escapade - which, whether or not you agreed with his sentiments about the lachrymose nature of Liverpudlians, his article contained some very embarrassing remarks about football disasters - Mr Howard was looking for a reason to get rid of him.

Indeed, one wonders how Mr Johnson ever found time to be a Shadow Minister for the Arts on top of his full-time jobs as a magazine editor, newspaper columnist, TV star, novelist, vice-chairman of the party, father of four and the elected representative of the people of Henley.

This is a fellow who appears to play at things, be it politics, journalism or media stardom. For all his attributes, he has no depth or credibility to the man in the street. You cannot have a bicycling buffoon or a pompous twit running the country, fighting a war or managing the NHS.

The only reason the Tories could have kept Mr Johnson is the only reason Mr Howard can have had for appointing him in the first place: a hope that his cuddly nature would warm the cockles of disenchanted Conservative hearts.

But for all this, Mr Johnson is welcome anytime to pop round for a beer or a spot of lunch.