Boris Johnson’s broken promise on MPs’ second jobs fits a pattern

Analysis: Having seen off hostile headlines, the prime minister has reversed course ... again

Boris Johnson's promise to crack down on MPs' second jobs came at a perilous moment for his premiership last autumn, with backbenchers in open revolt over the botched attempt to save the disgraced MP Owen Paterson.

It was a classic Johnson manoeuvre - a bold bid to get ahead of the story, claiming to outflank Labour by promising that MPs would be appropriately punished" if they put their second employers, not their constituents, first.