Whenever Johnson has a problem, he calls Zelenskiy – and the bill is rapidly mounting | Simon Jenkins

Each domestic disaster is followed by a call pledging more aid to Kyiv - it's the most expensive therapy session in history

What do you do when in deep trouble? Boris Johnson is having his fill of it, but does he consult his chief whip, his political aides, his secretaries or his wife? Intriguingly he turns to someone in even deeper trouble that himself, the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Last Wednesday the prime minister suffered the humiliating departure of his so-called ethics" adviser, Lord Geidt. Johnson was facing a critical meeting with northern MPs before the upcoming Wakefield byelection. It was a three-line whip: nowhere was his presence more vital to boost morale and find votes. Yet not long after the Geidt statement Johnson cancelled his ticket to Yorkshire in favour of one across Europe deep into Ukrainian territory. He clearly and desperately needed the embrace and consoling chat of his friend Zelenskiy. Ducking and weaving from Putin's missile batteries is clearly as nothing to the cluster weaponry of a bunch of Tory backbenchers.

Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist