Wry comment on the Ancient History protest

From the 'Spy' column in the Daily Telegraph on Wednesday.

Boris, an icon of protest?

When the deputy chairman of the Belarus Popular Front came to Britain this month, he wanted to see politics at work in a democracy.

But Alaksiej Janukievic – a leading opponent of the Lukashenko regime in Belarus – has returned to the troubled former Soviet Republic with a rather curious view of what constitutes a student protest in this country.

“Protests are illegal in Belarus under the Stalinist dictator Lukashenko, so I was excited when I heard that I would be witnessing a demonstration outside Parliament,” he told me shortly before returning to Minsk.

However, the protest in question was last week's public call from Boris Johnson for the Ancient History A-Level to be retained.

“I was expecting to see riot police and a rabble, but all I saw instead was a man dressed up as a Roman addressing school students in Latin,” said a clearly disappointed Janukievic.