Boris Johnson | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 19 June 1964 (age 59) New York City, US |
| Political orientation | Imperialism Liberalism |
| Political party | Conservative and Unionist Party |
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is a British Conservative politician, and a former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Before becoming Prime Minister he served as Mayor of London from 2008-2016 and Foreign Secretary from 2016-2018. He replaced Theresa May as Prime Minister on July 24 2019 before he was succeeded himself by Liz Truss on September 6 2022.[1] Johnson is best known for facilitating a Brexit deal, and the Partygate scandal where he threw a party during the COVID-19 pandemic whilst the rest of the country was in lockdown.[2]
Early life and career
Education
Johnson attended Eton College, a boarding school for the upper classes, before going to Balliol College, University of Oxford. In 1993 Johnson divorced his first wife Allegra Mostyn-Owen and married barrister Marina Wheeler with whom he produced four children despite engaging in multiple affairs throughout their marriage; pathological liar would become his most well known personality trait.[3]
Journalist
Before becoming a politician Johnson worked for several right wing newspapers such as the Telegraph, and the Spectator as a 'journalist' where he wrote numerous offensive articles. In a 1998 article he mocked the resignation of gay Labour MP Peter Mandelson, calling gay men "tank-topped bum boys," a comment which he is still yet to apologise for.[4]
Johnson was made editor of the Spectator in 1999 despite having no experience or skill in managing anything, notably as part of the conditions for him taking on the role he promised to abandon parliamentary ambitions. Sales were boosted with Johnson as editor but in terms of actual leadership he presided over a reign of chaos and delegated as many tasks as possible to others whilst rarely showing up to work on time if he made it in at all. His celebrity status continued to rise as he featured on the BBC’s satirical news quiz Have I Got News For You and became known for his offensive style of journalism.[3]
Political career
Member of Parliament for Henley
Johnson became the Conservative MP for Henley in June 2001 only two years after saying he wouldn't do so.[3] After winning his seat Johnson wrote Friends, Voters, Countrymen, a book recounting his successful campaign, in this book he criticised gay marriage saying “If gay marriage was OK – and I was uncertain on the issue – then I saw no reason in principle why a union should not be consecrated between three men, as well as two men, or indeed three men and a dog.” Previously in 2000 Johnson had also wrote an article criticizing Labour for its opposition to homophobic law, Section 28, but when it came down to voting, Johnson voted in favour of the abolition of Section 28 in 2003, and for same-sex civil partnerships in 2004, seemingly taking on a 'liberal persona' as it suited him.[4]
In 2003, Conservative leader Michael Howard appointed him vice-chairman of the party, and in May 2004, shadow Arts Minister. In November 2004 he lied about an affair with columnist Petronella Wyatt and not long after he was dismissed from the shadow cabinet only to be invited back soon after by new leader David Cameron to become shadow Higher Education Minister. In 2005 the new chair of the Spectator, Andrew Neil, insisted Johnson stand down as editor finding him untrustworthy and unmanageable. Johnson would remain an MP and part of the shadow cabinet until 2008 when he instead refocussed his energy into becoming Mayor of London at the encouragement of Cameron and George Osborne, though not without him insisting they give him their reassurance that he could keep his seat should he fail to become Mayor.[3]
Mayor of London
In 2008 Johnson faced off against incumbent Labour Mayor, Ken Livingstone, with a campaign backed by the Evening Standard and won it handily, going on to carry out a reign of chaos, which Johnson himself prefers to declare as a success based on unfounded claims. As Mayor Johnson played the role of a showman, delegating as many tasks as possible to others whilst showing off for the crowds to distract the London proletariat from noticing their decreasing material conditions.[3] When riots broke out in 2011, Johnson originally declined to return from holiday to deal with them, only deciding to return a few days later, thus showing his lack of commitment to the poor once again.[5]
The majority of his first term as mayor was devoted to preparing for the 2012 London Olympics which he threw cash at without care, the Olympics were his main passion project but not his only one, another notable example was spending £43m on a garden bridge that was never built.[5] The success of the Olympics won him great popularity; he was seen as the most recognisable politician in the country, and he was subsequently re-elected as Mayor in 2014. Johnson enjoyed himself tremendously whilst his employees were running the city for him, spending plenty of time on wasting the resources of the people of London and when he stepped down in May 2016, the only skills he left with were how to be charismatic, effectively campaign and win elections.[3]
Member of Parliament for Uxbridge and South Ruislip
He was Conservative MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip from May 2015 to June 2023.[1] After the 2015 general election, he was offered the role of Culture Secretary by Cameron, but the move was blocked because Johnson was supposed to simultaneously continue as Mayor and write a biography of Shakespeare for which he was paid £500,000.[3]
Brexit
Johnson was a key supporter in the Leave campaign for Brexit, and supported it by releasing newspaper articles and posing on buses. Johnson had hoped to gain politically by joining the Leave campaign and did not expect the Leave vote to actually win, and he was dismayed by the blow to imperialism.[3] On June 30 2016, after the resignation of David Cameron following the decision of the British people to leave the EU, Johnson declared his intention to run for Conservative leader, but withdrew from the race shortly afterwards when Michael Gove declared his own bid for leadership insisting that Boris was unfit for leadership. On July 13, after Theresa May took over the leadership uncontested, she appointed Johnson as foreign secretary, a position he was woefully unsuitable for.[6]
Foreign Secretary
His appointment would almost be laughable due to his propensity to accidentally insult his allies, and cause diplomatic incidents over offensive remarks if it were not coupled with a unrelenting support for western imperialism that cost lives. As foreign secretary Johnson supported Trump, and made grandiose claims such as wanting to end a humanitarian crisis in Yemen, only for him to support the Saudi-UAE coalition once they decided to attack the port of Hodeidah. On July 6 2018 he agreed with the May governments latest Brexit proposals but only a few days later he resigned as foreign secretary in protest against them on 9 July after disappearing for several hours.[6]
Premiership
Boris Johnson was Prime Minister from 24 July 2019 to 6 September 2022.[1]
Covid-19
From the beginning of the pandemic Johnson showed reluctance to pursue a public health plan, preferring to promote the wishes of the bourgeois who wanted to keep their employees working and risk their lives. The UK went into lockdown in May 2020 and the government brought in social distancing laws, many of which were draconian measures targeting the working class disproportionally. The police were given new powers, including the ability to issue fines of up to £10,000 or even jailtime for anyone organising the now outlawed social gatherings, unsurprisingly the working class were the main targets of these laws, not the upper classes.[2]
On June 19 2020 Johnson attended a birthday party in 10 Downing Street among other parties, these parties were concealed from the public and when questioned about them Johnson and his associates lied about their existence repeatedly. Despite breaking his own laws, when Johnson finally admitted to the crime he still claimed that he didn't believe he had done anything wrong and ignored mounting demands for his resignation.[7] Johnson, Sunak and 47 other members of the government received a mere £50 fine each for breaking their own covid legislation, a sharp contrast to the massive fines paid by the working class for breaking lockdown rules far less blatantly.[2]
Post-Premiership
Since his resignation Johnson has remained under fire for his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and his blatant disregard for his own rules, quitting as an MP in June 2023. Johnson received a six figure sum from the Daily Mail tabloid newspaper to write a weekly column for them, so far he has written about his dog Dilyn, the Elon Musk-Mark Zuckerburg row and his love of cheddar cheese. As well as making around £4.2m from speaking events, Johnson struck a £510,000 deal with HarperCollins in January 2023 to pen a memoir. In October 2023 Johnson announced his plans to join the far-right news outlet GB News as a presenter.[8]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "The Rt Hon Boris Johnson" (2023). GOV.UK.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Proletarian writers (2022-04-25). "Partygate again: Is Boris really about to suffer ‘death by a thousand cuts’?" Proletarian. Retrieved 2023-12-22.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Anthony Seldon and Raymond Newell (2023). Johnson at 10: The Inside Story: 'Rise'. Atlantic Books. ISBN 978-1-83895-803-9
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Reiss Smith (2021-07-27). "A comprehensive guide to Boris Johnson’s infamous use of ‘tank-topped bum boys’" Pink News.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Peter Walker (2019-06-12). "Was Boris Johnson as successful as London mayor as he claims?" The Guardian.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Patrick Wintour (2018-07-09). "Few at Foreign Office will mourn Boris Johnson’s departure" The Guardian.
- ↑ Roger Mckenzie (2022-01-25). "Police launch investigation into Downing Street's lockdown-busting parties" Morning Star. Retrieved 2023-12-22.
- ↑ Adam Forrest (2023-10-27). "Boris Johnson reveals he is joining GB News" The Independent.