There is much about the Salisbury poisoning which does not make sense to the average onlooker, but the British people have for the most part accepted the line that the Russians are behind the assault and, in the case of Boris Johnson, that not just the Russian State, but Putin directly, had ordered the attack. Boris followed this up with interviews in which he assured the audience that he had categorical assurances from Porton Down that the nerve agent was from Russia. This turns out to be untrue. Porton Down not only gave no such assurances; they do not know who made the substance and they do not have the facility to investigate its origin.
This blows quite a large whole in the UK’s position. For the moment the substantial line up of allies is standing firm, but there is widespread anxiety that we could be headed down the humiliating road trodden to the infamous claims of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. It is now absolutely essential that the government comes clean on what it really knows. Failure to do so in a timely fashion will convince many that it does not actually know anything for sure at all.
As for Boris. In a dangerous world we cannot afford this loose cannon, a stranger to truth, to run the foreign office and speak for Britain. Time for May to act.