POLITICIANS like doughnuts. Not the sugary kind which are less than universally popular, at least in public, in these health-conscious times.

Rather I am thinking back to my days on the telly. A doughnut is a supportive claque, cocooning political speakers so that they are seemingly bathed in approbation when they appear on the box.

All that is required of the claque is that they nod sententiously at the grave bits, laugh at the strained funnies and, if in the Commons, cheer and “hear, hear!” In short, creative sycophancy.

This phenomenon was notably absent when Boris Johnson rose to answer questions this week, pre-empting inquiries by referring to the “gathering” held in Downing Street during a Covid lockdown.

OK, Priti Patel tried her best, accompanying each Prime Ministerial utterance with vigorous nodding.

Read more from Brian Taylor: Why Sturgeon and Johnson are both so cautious and hesitant about Omicron.

But catch a glance at the Chancellor, sitting right next to the PM. Admittedly, it was hard to gauge Rishi Sunak’s expression as he was swathed in a capacious face mask.

But the temperature displayed by the eyes was net zero. And the body language was distant. Not a single nod. No leaning supportively towards the PM. Nothing.

If I am wrong and he was privately enthusing for his boss, then I apologise. Insincerely.

To be serious for a moment, this tableau – with a soundtrack of muted murmuring from the Tory back-benches – discloses the underlying problem faced by Boris Johnson.

He has minimal core support within the Conservative Party. There is absolutely no Johnsonism, to match past adulations, such as Thatcherism.

Even John Major, traduced and lampooned by the Euro-sceptics on his own side, was able to count upon a coterie of chums, a degree of loyalty.

Boris Johnson has virtually no discernible policy platform to turn to in times of crisis. Or, more precisely, no platform he is prepared to evince.

I think he is, on balance, an economic and social egalitarian. To emphasise, that means equality of opportunity, not equality of outcome. I stress, on balance. Let us not get ahead of ourselves.

READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon or Boris Johnson? Who is your money on to lead us out of Covid crisis?

However, he recognises that such an avowed stance would place him on the centre left of his own party: and at odds with the dominant ideological grouping in the New Model Tories.

So, he tracks and bends. His core doctrine is fundamentally Marxist. “Those are my principles. If you don’t like them, I have others.”

Groucho Marx, that is; not Karl.

Even on the European Union, the defining issue of the past few decades for the Tories, he falls short of purity.

It is said that he prepared – but did not publish – a newspaper column in 2016, setting out the case for EU membership. Mr Johnson said subsequently the article was a semi-parody, designed to clarify his own thinking.

I first encountered Boris Johnson when I was routinely covering the EU circuit for BBC Scotland. Summits and the rest. The future PM was then a journalist.

He could always be counted upon to ask a challenging, Euro-sceptical question at EU news conferences. Indeed, I recall Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s press secretary, inviting Mr Johnson to open proceedings at one early hours briefing, adding: “We could do with a laugh.”

READ MORE: Partygate: Scotland's future could be decided by the fate of Boris Johnson

So, the PM’s Euro-sceptical credentials are well founded. But, even on this issue, he does not offer the full package for the zealous.

His eventual view on Brexit appeared more like a calculated choice, a decision on balance, than one driven by doctrine, still less by xenophobia or Anglo-centricity.

The true Brexiteers look upon their leader and despair. He is not, really, one of them. They know it and they respond in kind when a crisis arises. As it now, indisputably, has.

They are sad it has come to this. As are others in the Cabinet, and on the party back-benches.

But the chatter arises, sotto voce. Bit of a mess, eh? But what can you expect? Who could take over, do you reckon? Anything in all of this for us?

Commonly, the Tories have distrusted ideology. Even Thatcherites posited some early caveats. Brexit, in that sense, is an aberration, distorting their customary focus upon winning and retaining power.

Successive Tory leaders have faced a conundrum. A section of their membership who would rather pursue purity on the European Union than pursue victory at the polls; who refused to compromise for party unity.

Boris Johnson contrived to solve that conundrum. His offer was to “get Brexit done”. It was sufficiently simple and beguiling to convince first the Conservative Party, and then the people of England.

His party has never really trusted him. Not really. Not unequivocally. Even when they were yelling enthusiastically at his annual party conference comedy turn.

But he seemed to be popular, or at least to attract and retain attention, like a voluble entertainer.

Those who continued to harbour doubts, when they opted for him as leader, faced an almost impossible choice. Would he rescue the Tories by deft presentation or undermine their pitch? Was he an effective chancer or a complete charlatan?

I think it likely he is neither. That he is, in essence, a patrician Tory with centrist social and economic views, who is shaped, warped even, by ambition.

But it is too late for the real Boris to step forward, if such a thing can be envisaged.

He is reduced to slogans. Forget “get Brexit done” – although, as the island of Ireland would testify, that task is far from complete.

Instead, this week we endured the spectacle of a Prime Minister trumpeting “get yer boosters” as he tried to turn the topic away from accusations of his own mendacity and back to measures to tackle Covid.

For some, the signs were there. In a 2013 BBC interview, Eddie Mair pursued Mr Johnson over sundry claims he had been economical with the truth.

With deft Dundonian bluntness, Eddie added: “You’re a nasty piece of work, aren’t you?” Cue Johnsonian bluster and an appeal to talk about something else.

Today, the Prime Minister also hopes and prays we will soon talk about something else. Anything else. That may or may not happen. But it will never be glad confident morning again for this leader who lacks enthusiastic followers.

Our columns are a platform for writers to express their opinions. They do not necessarily represent the views of The Herald.