it is an utterly Bizzare move on his part, that can only do damage to him, it's as if Boris is living in the past (stop sniggering at the back)

previous to this he's said the whole affair was rubbish and not worth Investigating, back before the Dowler story came out, so it's not like a new opinion for him, but he usually has a better feeling for the public mood than this

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

I dunno, it is entirely consistent with Boris' worldview which is that you suck up and kick down. He can regularly be seen on telly defending Barclays, HSBC and the City in general on the principle that they are successful companies and we should just leave them alone to get on doing what they do best, make lots of money.

Being associated with Rupert is just part of that fixation.

He is in the tory tradition of Alan Clark, a minister under Mrs Thatcher. A man who gained notoriety on several fronts, for being racist, a drunk and a serial adulterer. His attitude to Corporate profits, in this case, arms sales, is revealed here

When Clark was Minister of Trade, responsible for overseeing arms sales to foreign governments, he was interviewed by journalist John Pilger who asked him:

    JP "Did it bother you personally that you were causing such mayhem and human suffering (by supplying arms for Indonesia's war in East Timor)?"
    AC "No, not in the slightest, it never entered my head."
    [....]
    JP "Doesn't that concern extend to the way humans, albeit foreigners, are killed?"
    AC "Curiously not. No."

keep to the Fen Causeway

Yes, he may have finally buffooned his way into something he can't buffoon his way back out of.