Why do people still refer to Johnson as 'Boris' like some term of endearment?
To distinguish him from the other Johnsons. There are a number of them. It isn't even possible to specify him as the blond Johnson, as they are all blond. Having scoped around for names of ficional traitors who back stab their leader and ingratiate themselves with whatever scum might be of value to their ambition, 'Pettigrew' pops up high in the list (a little shit from the Harry Potter stories). I think that in future I shall use Pettigrew when referring to 'Boris'. There is even a superficial facial resemblance: