Following yesterday’s news of Boris being hit with a County Court Judgement for £535 of unpaid debt, it’s now emerged the claimant is actually a Covid conspiracy theorist called Yvonne Hobbs, who’s used the Online Civil Money Claims service to accuse the PM of “repeated defamation”. She has also previously made legal claims against Rishi Sunak, Marks and Spencer, and Royal Mail. “I’m taking on the government”, she boasts on social media…

Clearly the claims are invalid, and No. 10 reckons they will be able to strike the defamation claim out given they’re not normally heard in a county court. 

Anyone can make an online court claim for as little as £25, so there’s not much stopping someone else pulling the same stunt again. The main question is how events got to this stage in the first place – why were the court letters, posted to No. 10, missed or ignored for so long? Classic civil service…