The anecdote came out of an interview conducted back in 2015, on the back of the publication of his book on Winston Churchill.

Speaking to a Canberra Times journalist, Johnson professed his love for Canberra, and launched into his characteristically bumbling tale.

"I was driving there and I was about 18 and I got totally lost and I dossed down for the night in a roundabout. Well, I woke up and discovered it was a roundabout," he said.

"It was terrible. I thought I would be OK, then I got woken up by the traffic and then I looked at my hands, my hands had swollen up like blown-up washing up gloves because I had been bitten so badly."

It's pure Boris, of course, whether or not it actually happened.

One can even picture the scene, him emerging, blinking into the morning sun and rubbing his tousled head and explaining his way out of a tight spot.

But it's amazing how, in light of the news that he will be now be leading the United Kingdom into what will almost definitely be a disastrous, no-deal Brexit, the story doesn't seem quite so amusing.

It's not that the anecdote itself takes on a different light, although it has never much mattered whether it was true or not.

The problem is that the time has now firmly passed for us to be able to laugh at, or even with, Johnson. His bumbling, affable act has always been just that, but it has now taken on an extra sinister flavour.

He now holds the future of an entire nation in his hands, and, despite being one of the architects of the UK's current desperate situation, it's not at all clear he has any plans on what to do with his new-found, but much longed-for, leadership.

The situation has gone well beyond a run-of-the-mill political crisis. What we are watching from across the globe is what could well be the collapse of a nation.

And for many Australians, it's a distressing sight. We are all accustomed to watching, usually with detached alarm, the daily unfolding horrors of the Trump administration.

But far more Australians have more solid ties - familial or emotional - to the UK, and feel far more of an affinity with its people.

It's clear that, come the looming October deadline, an entire population will be adversely affected by Brexit, whether they voted for it or not.

Young people will have futures severely curtailed once they can no longer freely move to and work on the continent.

The economy will suffer, and so will a great many people of all ages. Johnson and his new cabinet probably won't be among those people.

It's like watching a train crash in slow motion, with Johnson as the new, faux-diffident driver. And it's not even a revelation that he has blundered his way into the cabin.

He knows it, and so does everybody around him.

It's no longer eccentric, or cute, to be out of place and at odds with his surroundings.

It has always been difficult to take Boris Johnson seriously, but now we have no choice.

Here's hoping he can find a way to live up to the role he has so characteristically - and, it turns out, single-mindedly - stumbled his way into.