Like a frenzied gameshow contestant, Boris Johnson leaps every obstacle | Martha Gill

Covered in goo, jumping desperately between rotating rollers, the prime minister refuses to gather his dignity and leave

How long will Boris Johnson last? In moments such as these it is common to look at precedents, but that is difficult: no past prime minister has played the game of survival quite like him.

The best comparison point for Johnson's survival tactics comes not from politics but from the cult 1980s Japanese gameshow Takeshi's Castle. There he is, covered in goo, jumping desperately between rotating rollers, repeatedly hit in the face with large plastic balls. While his predecessors might at this point gather their dignity and retire, Johnson merely leaps to the next soaped-up surface: always weakened but never quite finished. Meanwhile, some of his audience - particularly those whose careers depend on his - perhaps start to think of him not as weakened at all but as a survivor.

Martha Gill is a political journalist and former lobby correspondent