Rishi’s in trouble. An underwhelming, ineffective and mean-spirited spring statement, plus a televised inability to scan a can of coke or fill his own car with petrol, have all taken the sheen off the Chancellor’s pearly-radiant grin.

There’s a new level of scrutiny around Sunak’s multiple homes, loaves of bread and sources of wealth (including the £12million annual dividend just earned by his billionaire wife from a company operating in Russia).

All in all, it’s been a bad week for #RishiAntoinette – until last week, the strongest contender for the Tory leadership. Boris Johnson must be rubbing his hands – though maybe not too hard.

After all, trouble for the Chancellor is still trouble for the government. And polls suggest the cost-of-living crisis will be the single biggest deciding factor in the next election.

Still, that’s not happening tomorrow – Mr Johnson’s preferred timescale – and it is an ill wind that blows no good.

So, the Prime Minister may hope Rishi’s fall from grace along with escalating inflation and colossal energy bills, combine to completely overshadow the problems he was struggling with before the Russian invasion. So much so that Partygate is forgotten and opposition attempts to resurrect the public outrage felt in January will simply fall flat.

It certainly looks that way. The polls have narrowed, Douglas Ross has retracted his resignation call and other Tory MPs have done the same. We’re stuck with him till the next election” one concluded.

And yet. Even though political business as usual may not resume anytime fast, Boris shouldn’t think a bruised and betrayed electorate is ready to call it quits. Behind the scenes, trouble still brews for the Teflon PM.

Partygate rumbles on. Met officers are beginning to interview witnesses over lockdown parties in Downing Street which suggests they’ve found inconsistencies in the stories given and raises the extraordinary prospect of Johnson being questioned under caution.

Meanwhile, a second Foreign Office whistleblower has challenged Johnson’s insistence that he didn’t prioritise dogs from a friend’s charity over people during the Afghan airlift last summer. And as the war continues, scrutiny of Johnson’s friendship with the newly ennobled Russian oligarch and Evening Standard owner, Evgeny Lebedev, will intensify.

It all adds up. And any of these problems could flare into a fully-fledged scandal.

But more than this, the nightmare in Ukraine has changed the political terms of trade.

Boris Johnson may hope some of President Zelensky’s integrity has rubbed off on him, yet the very opposite may have happened. Boris Johnson is suffering by comparison.

Ducking, weaving, grinning and gaffing as usual, while the political premium placed on empathy, trust and integrity has risen across the world, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Even his keenest supporters would concede that none of these qualities are Prime Ministerial strengths. Meanwhile, Johnson is plainly presiding over a government that’s willing to see its poorest citizens suffer rather than tax the windfall billions of oil companies or spend the war-chest being hoarded to bribe victory in the next election.

In the present circumstances that’s worse than offensive. Because the nightly heart-wrenching reports from the Ukrainian front line are an eloquent reminder that love, family, safety and generosity ultimately matter more than mealy-mouthed political dogma – essential human values we rediscovered during the sorrows, restrictions and privations of the Covid pandemic.

It’s this link that makes Boris Johnson’s lying over lockdown parties completely unforgivable.

Leadership for him means empty Churchillian phrases and immunity from the constraints and poverty inflicted on others.

Leadership across Europe since the Russian invasion on 24th February clearly means so much more.

Every night on TV news, world leaders are demonstrating purpose, common cause and empathy – from the clear-eyed President Zelensky, whose rousing video messages to Ukrainians risk giving his location to Russian death squads, to the legions of powerfully articulate Ukrainian mayors and deputies.

Even the EU is in the headlines for all the right reasons – with a quick collective decision to impose sanctions, exclude Russian banks from the Swift payment system and deliver “lethal arms” to Ukraine, whilst trying to move away from dependence on Russian fossil fuels.

Certainly, there’s a real danger that the “temporary” detour to LNG supplied at great carbon cost from America might delay the switch to renewables. But the EU currently appears pro-active, purposeful and co-operative – not the hopeless basket-case of Boris Johnson’s fevered imaginings. And never mind the politicians stepping up – there’s the people.

One message is being hammered home, night after night by the narratives of injury, loss and defiance in Ukraine.

The same message arises from the spontaneous generosity of people in eastern Europe, taking refugees into their homes without any of the conditionality, suspicion and tardiness shown by distant Britain.

Solidarity matters. Integrity matters. They are not the naïve values of yesteryear nor the pious hopes of snowflake generations. Something beyond naked self-interest and personal aggrandisement is moving the world right now. And it is moving to behold.

People matter. The rules devised to handle emergencies matter. Universal compliance with them matters. And leading by example matters.

These truths also formed the lynchpin of public health during the pandemic. Yet they were systematically broken by the leader of this country who also lied to save his own political skin.

Of course, it’s what we’ve come to expect. Cynicism. Manipulation. A leader who channels Bunter and Eddie the Eagle to create a veneer of amateur “charm”, whilst driving fellow citizens into a hell of low-pay, housing insecurity and high prices.

And so the record has been stuck since Brexit and beyond. But now?

Looking at Ukraine, is that all voters can expect of leaders here? Doubtless Boris wagers that as summer beckons, Covid recedes, and the Russian war bites harder, problems that predate the Russian invasion will seem to belong to another more trivial world. But the world stage has changed.

Forget Brexit, Rule Britannia and levelling up – does Boris Johnson fit the new model of moral leadership post Ukraine?

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