Prime Minister Johnson and his gang had lost a succession of important votes the day before this stanza was written. Several prominent and moderate Tories who had voted against the government and against the possibility of a “No Deal” Brexit, had simply been sacked. Ken Clarke was one of those and had much to say to Johnson in the Commons afterwards : “I do think the prime minister has a tremendous skill in keeping a straight face whilst he’s being so disingenuous,” was one thing he said. “The Independent”’s Tom Peck translated those words for us as follows : “[Johnson’s] a liar, in other, carefully chosen, entirely parliamentary words.”