Johnson's acolytes can only deflect their despair and panic for so long. To be sure, Johnson will probably rebound at some point with an entertaining speech. But it has to hit them, at some point. Even if they fundamentally believe that he did nothing wrong, or could do nothing wrong. Or even if they're cynical to the point of ethically desiccated and simply don't care what he did. They have to realise. They've been warned by friend and enemy alike that Boris Johnson is only good at self-promotion, but is otherwise lazy, undisciplined and incompetent. Now it's one thing for them to realise that he's undisciplined enough to risk a 'domestic incident' loud enough for the police to be called in the middle of a crucial leadership election. But the response to that story, to which they've willingly been conscripted, is to vilify the neighbours who called the cops, spark a culture war conflagration, and drag this out for days and possibly weeks. That's their man? That's their future Prime Minister? Are they quite sure about this?