Instant Opinion: ‘It’s Johnson or no-Johnson - we are at peak mayhem’

The Week’s daily round-up highlights the five best opinion pieces from across the British and international media, with excerpts from each.

1. Robert Peston in The Spectator

on Boris Johnson’s next Brexit move

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Boris Johnson’s threat to MPs and the EU: ‘Back me or sack me’

“Johnson wants to know pronto whether the EU is prepared to ditch two of its reddest lines... a member of Johnson’s team told me yesterday, it should be clear by the end of next week whether an entente is reachable – after negotiators enter a ‘dark tunnel’... And MPs will therefore have to decide whether now is the moment for that vote of no confidence, whether with no-deal looming, it’s Johnson or no-Johnson... We are at peak mayhem.”

2. Hatice Cengiz in The Guardian

on the search for truth over Jamal Kashoggi’s murder

Silence still surrounds the murder of my fiance, Jamal Khashoggi. Who will speak up?

“Exactly one year ago, I stood outside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, waiting for my fiance, Jamal Khashoggi, to come out with the marriage documents we needed to begin our life together. I was optimistic, even excited. Yet I never saw Jamal again... There is no body, no grave. I have no place where I can mourn. And as remarkable as the illegality and ruthlessness of my fiance’s murder was the manner in which his killers committed it. This was an assault on a man who was not the enemy of the Saudi government but a reformer, with only the best interests of his people in mind.”

3. Alice Thomson in The Times

on the prime minister’s alleged groping of female journalists

The Spectator groping story brings it all back

“The world at the magazine that the journalist Charlotte Edwardes described at the weekend was sex-obsessed, and it wasn’t just the men... The drinking started at midday, there were long lunches with guests such as Sarah Ferguson and Liz Hurley and sofas for naps. Everyone would decamp for cultural weekends to Barcelona or Budapest where the deputy editor Petronella Wyatt would dance on the table. When Boris Johnson became editor the shenanigans escalated... Mr Johnson may not be able to remember but Charlotte’s story about him groping her rings true. It wouldn’t be surprising if he had put his hand on multiple girls’ legs while having an affair with Petronella.”

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4. Lord Gadhia in The Telegraph

on Ghandi’s political leadership

On the 150th anniversary of his birth, Gandhi's message of civility is a timely one

“Gandhi’s life story provides a timely reminder of why political leadership does not need to be bombastic and how public discourse can be conducted in a civilised way. At a time when these virtues are in scarce supply in British politics, it is ironic that the UK played such a significant role in Gandhi’s success... Such was the impact of his early experiences that Gandhi wrote his own ‘Guide to London’ for other students and travellers, saying: ‘Next to India, I would rather live in London than any other place in the world’.”

5. Thomas B. Edsall in The New York Times

on Trump’s ‘danger to democracy’

Will Trump ever leave the White House?

“Since 2015, we have been worrying about how much danger Donald Trump posed to democracy. Now, with the impeachment inquiry moving forward, a new question is rapidly gaining relevance: How and when will President Trump leave the White House? When I asked David Leege, professor of political science emeritus at Notre Dame, about political developments in the near future, his response surprised me. After noting that I had not posed the most important question, he added: ‘We should not assume that either a 2020 election defeat or impeachment/conviction will remove Trump from the White House.’”