In theory, and despite the cascade of resignations within his government, Boris Johnson still has eleven months before him before undergoing a new motion of censure from his own camp. The steering committee in charge of the process of ousting the conservative leader can however decide to change the internal rules, in order to organize a new vote. Officially, he has until July 21, the date of the departure of the deputies on vacation, to decide. As weapons are being honed in Westminster and Boris Johnson’s political agony seems to be coming to an end, L’Express looks back on Boris Johnson’s seven lives – an existence based on entertainment and lies.
- Ancient Greek, a winning bet
Already very young, the one who had confided to his younger sister Rachel that he would one day be “the king of the world”, had understood that he would first have to become the king of improvisation if he wanted to reach the top. … without working too hard. Boris sees victory as a game – effortlessly if possible. Very early on, he therefore swore to reach the upper echelons through his wit, his nerve, his good nature, his sense of derision and a cultural veneer. As in the casino, the student Johnson bet all his chips on two subjects: Latin and ancient Greek. And he did well. Through this, he obtained a scholarship which opened the doors to Eton, then to Oxford. He shone there by his idleness, his delays and “his shamefully cavalier attitude”, according to his biographer Sonia Purnell, former colleague of Boris Johnson at the Daily Telegraph and author of the biography Just Boris: A Tale of Blond Ambition.
- The man who wanted to be Bo
At Eton and Oxford, he spends much less time studying than building a character. The one his parents called Al for Alexander suddenly demanded that he be called by his much more exotic and original middle name, Boris. He also left Catholicism to adopt Anglicanism, more suited to his new character: the eccentric Englishman who gets out of all difficult situations by a pirouette. His Turkish, German and French origins embarrass the young boy who dreams of being an English gentleman, so he chooses to exaggerate. He will be more English than English and will make his compatriots and the whole world laugh.
- King of the oxymoron, Boris becomes a lying journalist
Choosing journalism out of ease, he obtains a daily job thanks to family relations. The Times. He will make himself known by his spirit. His Latin phrases, with which he sprinkles his articles, will make the gallery laugh and will please the conservative readership. The pure and simple invention of an interview which was never given by its presumed author earned him his dismissal. This does not discourage Max Hastings, director of the Daily Telegraphwhich sends Boris Johnson to Brussels as a correspondent in charge of the European institutions.
Five years of more grotesque and misleading articles present the European Union as a power as sinister as it is pathetic, and make Johnson a favorite pen of conservatives in Britain. On his return to London, he rose in rank to Daily Telegraph and participates in humorous television shows where he excels. He found the trick: his lies amuse, his lies make him famous. Boris Johnson now knows the recipe for reaching the top of power.
A Conservative MP from the very chic London suburb of Henley, his personal life becomes complicated: he intertwines marriages and extramarital affairs. The Johnson children follow each other and do not look alike, we still do not know their exact number. The tabloids are beginning to take an interest in him. Asked about his infidelities, he lies publicly. Michael Howard, leader of the Conservative party, dismissed him as vice-president of the party for “dishonesty”. When the opportunity to take the mayor of London in the municipal elections of 2008 arises, Johnson runs.
The capital comes out of two mandates of Ken Livingstone, known as “Ken the red”, and Londoners are tempted by the alternative proposed by Johnson, that is to say a good quality conservatism. Johnson won the mayoralty in 2008 and, again, in 2012. This position suits him admirably: without real power, the mayor of London is more of an impresario of his city. Johnson became famous all over the world and took advantage of the 2012 Olympic Games to multiply the comical episodes, such as when he got stuck in the air, attached to a zip line, waving small British flags.
- Weather vane or Brexiter by chance
As mayor of London, Boris was pro-cycling, pro-European, pro-immigration and anti-Trump. During the Brexit campaign, it will be quite the opposite. Never mind, what matters is to win… and dislodge David Cameron from Downing Street. Besides, BoJo never liked his former comrade from Eton and Oxford, his junior by two years. This one reciprocates when he describes Johnson “like a greasy little pig that slips through your hands every time you try to grab it.” Against all expectations, Brexit is victorious, Johnson too. And if Downing Street goes to Theresa May for a while, the Tory party ends up giving her the keys to power in July 2019. Her resounding victory in the general elections of December 2019, thanks to a slogan and a promise that sweeps Brexit Done”, gives him a very comfortable majority of 80 seats in Parliament.
- Prime Minister scandalous
“The winning machine”, as Boris Johnson was then called, discovered that after victory, you had to govern. In March 2020, the promise of massive public investment in the north of England, a former Labor land, made it popular to the point that it was believed in a “red conservatism” combining cultural conservatism and progressive economic policy. Alas, the pandemic struck and, apart from the advance taken on the manufacture and inoculation of vaccines, parliament judged very harshly the management of the crisis by the Johnson government. The October 2021 report speaks of “one of the biggest public health bankruptcies in the country’s history.” With 150,000 deaths linked to Covid, Great Britain has the highest number of victims in the world, in proportion to its population. In November 2021, we learned that Downing Street was blithely violating the health restrictions that the government had itself imposed on the whole country.
Faced with anger, Boris Johnson denies en bloc and, each time he is confronted with new revelations, says he has forgotten or does not know, and ends up asking for forgiveness, hoping each time to get away with it. However, the defeat at the polls in the by-elections ended up convincing the conservative party that it had become urgent to stop the losing machine. A final scandal concerning the chairman of the Tory group in the House of Commons, a sexual predator whose actions Johnson knew, seems to sound the final hallali. In the past 24 hours, nearly 40 members of the government and ministerial collaborators have resigned. How much longer will it last?
- A future American showman?
Asked about the future of the Prime Minister, his biographer Sonia Purnell believes that he could reinvent himself on the other side of the Atlantic. Born in New York in 1964, Boris Johnson has always retained his American nationality and passport, enough to fuel many rumors in recent years. America, as a way out for the English Trump. What could be more natural.