Finally, at lunchtime yesterday, the news came that everyone had been waiting for. Or at least, part of it came. The police had issued 20 finesThis does not necessarily mean that 20 people were fined: some could have been fined more than once. to people who had broken lockdown rules by taking part in illegal gatherings at 10 Downing Street. But to the disappointment of opposition MPs and journalists, the culprits were not named. All that was known was that they did not include Boris Johnson.

That might not be the end of the matter, though. There is speculation that the police started with "low-hanging fruit" - easy cases, involving people who admitted to wrongdoing. Those who denied it - such as Johnson - could be dealt with at a later date.

The fines are nevertheless deeply embarrassing for the prime minister. Yesterday, he was still refusing to admit that there had been illegal parties at Number 10, despite allegations that 12 had taken place. That refusal will infuriate people who made great sacrifices to observe the lockdown rules - and it will foster further distrust of politicians.

Another embarrassment is the revelation that chancellor Rushi Sunak's wife has shares in an IT company that has refused to pull out of Russia despite the invasion of Ukraine.

Commentators have been quick to compare Johnson to historical figures who showed contempt for ordinary people's feelings. Emperor NeroEmperor from 54 AD to 68 AD. is said to have sung and played the fiddleThe fiddle was not in fact invented until around the 11th Century. during the Great FireAccording to the historian Suetonius, Nero ordered the city to be burned because he thought it ugly. of Rome in 64 AD. Marie AntoinetteQueen of France from 1774 until her execution during the French Revolution in 1792. was quoted as saying "Let them eat cakeThe words were first attributed to an unidentified princess in 1765 when Marie Antoinette was just nine. " when people in France were short of bread.

"At the heart of successful liberal democracies lies a remarkable collective leap of faith," writes William Davies, "that when public officials, reporters, experts and politicians share a piece of information, they are presumed to be doing so in an honest fashion". People trust them not to lie. And they expect them to act for the public good - not personal gain.

But in recent years, Davies argues, this trust has been undermined by devastating scandals. Revelations of MPs fiddling their expenses, US soldiers mistreating prisoners in Iraq, phone-hacking by News of the World reporters and sexual abuse by Jimmy Savile all feed into the narrative of misconduct and cover-ups.

This has been used by some to cast doubt not just on individuals but on public figures in general. Politicians such as Donald Trump claim that the truth is being hidden from us by "elites" - including the media.

"Unless liberal institutions and their defenders are willing to reckon with their own inability to sustain trust... the present trends will only intensify," Davies warns. Leaders like Trump will take over the world.

But according to one expert, Professor Philip Cowley, "One of the greatest myths in British politics is this idea that MPs now are an out-of-touch elite." For him, they are probably more in touch with their constituents than ever before.

Yes: Nobody relies on politicians to tell the truth anymore. They are only out for themselves and say whatever people want to hear in order to stay in power. Boris Johnson has a reputation as a liar.

No: You cannot generalise about politicians any more than you can about other groups of people. Plenty of them are thoroughly honest. If they were all crooks, nobody would vote in elections at all.

Or... We are going through a bad phase at the moment, with a lot of disgraceful people in positions of power. But that does not mean that the next generation of politicians will be untrustworthy.