Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born
19 June 1964 in
New York City,
USA), better known as
Boris Johnson, is a
British Conservative politician,
journalist and
historian. Known for his distinctivly eccentric public persona, he is
Member of Parliament for
Henley and is also Shadow Minister for Higher Education in
David Cameron's
shadow cabinet. He is occasionally referred to as 'Bo-Jo' in the UK
tabloid press)
He was one of the four children born to
Stanley Johnson and his first wife Charlotte Johnson-Wahl. He is the great-grandson of Ali Kemal, the last interior minister of the Imperial
Turkish government. Boris's great grandparents came to
England in 1910 to stay with his great great grandmother and to give birth to Boris' grandfather. His great grandmother Winifred died of
puerperal fever soon after.
Boris's great grandfather, grandfather and great aunt lived in Wimbledon until 1912 when Ali Kemal returned to Turkey. During
World War I Boris's grandfather and great aunt were given British citizenship and took their grandmother's maiden name of Johnson.
Boris was educated at
Eton College, where he was a
King's Scholar, and read
Greats at
Balliol College, Oxford, where he was a Brakenbury scholar, and President of the
Oxford Union. It has been claimed that, tactically, to gain the Presidency he touted himself as a
SDP] supporter, then a dominant current at the University, though he denies that he was more than their preferred candidate (Pandora column, [[The Independent, August 9, 2006). While at Oxford he was also a member of the
Bullingdon Club, an exclusive student dining society known for its raucous feasts, and was involved in the
British-Arab University Association.
In 1987, at the age of 23, he married Allegra Mostyn-Owen; the marriage was dissolved in 1993. Later in 1993 he married Marina Wheeler, a barrister (and the daughter of journalist and broadcaster
Sir Charles Wheeler). They have two sons and two daughters.
Upon graduating from Oxford he lasted a week as a management consultant ("Try as I might, I could not look at an overhead projection of a growth profit matrix, and stay conscious"), before becoming a trainee reporter for
The Times. Within a year he was sacked for falsifying a quotation from his godfather,
Colin Lucas, later vice-chancellor of Oxford University. After a short time as a writer for the
Wolverhampton Express and Star, he joined
The Daily Telegraph in 1987 as leader and feature writer, and from 1989 to 1994 was the paper's
European Community correspondent. He served as assistant editor from 1994–1999. His association with
The Spectator began with a stint as political columnist from 1994 to 1995. In 1999 he became editor of
The Spectator, where he stayed until December 2005 upon being appointed Shadow Minister for Higher Education.
He has written an autobiographical account of his experience of the 2001 election campaign entitled
Friends, Voters, Countrymen: Jottings on the Stump. He is also the author of three collections of journalism,
Johnson's Column,
Lend Me Your Ears and
Have I Got Views For You. His first novel was
Seventy-Two Virgins, published in 2004, and his latest book is
The New British Revolution (2006). He was nominated in 2004 for a
British Academy Television Award, and has attracted several unofficial fan clubs and sites. His official
Boris Johnson website and blog started in September 2004.
In 2001, Johnson was elected MP for
Henley-on-Thames, succeeding
Michael Heseltine. He had previously failed to win
Clwyd South in 1997. In 2004 he was appointed to the front bench as Shadow Minister for the Arts in a small reshuffle resulting from the resignation of the shadow home affairs spokesman,
Nick Hawkins. He was also at one time vice-chairman of the Conservative Party, with emphasis on campaigning.
Johnson was dismissed from these high-profile posts in November 2004 over accusations that he lied about having a four-year extramarital affair with Petronella Wyatt,
The Spectator's New York correspondent and former deputy editor. Johnson derided these allegations as "an inverted pyramid of piffle", but
Michael Howard sacked Johnson because he believed press reports showed that Johnson had lied in this denial of the affair, rather than for the affair itself.
He was appointed Shadow Minister for Higher Education on
9 December 2005 by the new Conservative leader
David Cameron, and soon resigned as editor of
The Spectator. On April 2, 2006 it was alleged in the
News of the World that Johnson had a second extramarital affair, with
Times Higher Education Supplement journalist Anna Fazackerley. The video ([
1]) shows him emerging from her flat and waving to her in a taxi. Subsequently, in a speech concerning student finance he allegedly made comical remarks about his gratitude to the audience for not "raising other issues" during the talk, which may possibly have been a reference to the allegations. A report in
The Times [
2] stated that David Cameron regarded the possible affair as a private matter, and that Boris would not lose his job over it.
Boris stood for the
University of Edinburgh Rectorial Elections in 2006 after being nominated by its students, and came in third.
Johnson is also an historian and his first documentary series,
The Dream of Rome, was broadcast in 2006. It compared the
Roman Empire and the modern-day
European Union. The first of two parts was aired on
BBC Two on 29 January, and the second on 5 February.
Radio Times described Johnson as a "brilliant, funny presenter" despite an "unashamedly self-serving" argument [
3]. He also wrote a book to accompany the programmes.
Have I Got News for You
Johnson cultivates an image as an eccentric, self deprecating, straw-haired fop, disorganised and scatty (he once explained the lateness of his work by claiming that, "Dark forces dragged me away from the keyboard, swirling forces of irresistible intensity and power"). He has also succesfully got locked out of his own house in front of reporters (having just told them he would do what he could to save the marriage). His mobile phone has rung twice on BBC programmes — once on
Have I Got News for You, and again while being interviewed on
BBC Radio 2 by
Richard Allinson, who was unafraid to scold him for it.
Johnson has appeared on the popular British
television programme
Have I Got News for You three times each as a panelist and guest
television presenter. The tabloid press, before he became an MP, tagged him as the show's "star", even though he had by then appeared only twice on a programme that had been running for ten years. He has also taken part in the similar
Radio 4 programme,
The News QuizHis first HIGNFY appearance, in 1998, reached a peak when
Ian Hislop chided Boris over his previous association with fraudster and schoolfriend
Darius Guppy, quoting verbatim from a taped telephone conversation between the two that mentioned the idea of attacking a journalist who was digging into Guppy's affairs. An angry Boris later claimed the show was "fixed", though he retracted the comment when invited back as a guest for a second time.
By the
third time he appeared he was in Parliament. He was subjected to a surprise
Mastermind parody round — spotlight and all — on which he was forced to answer questions about his party's leader,
Iain Duncan Smith. Despite claiming to be an admirer and supporter of the man, Boris proceeded to get no questions correct. It was also during this episode that he got his name wrong (he said, "My name is Boris Johnson" when asked. However, host
Angus Deayton proceeded to quote his full birth name instead), and then his mobile telephone went off.
He also memorably admitted that he had forgotten the title of his own book as he was writing it, hence an inconsistency between the title on the hard cover (
Jottings from the Stump) and the dust jacket (
Jottings on the Stump).
After Deayton's sacking, Boris was one of a number of people recruited to introduce the show, and during his first attempt at keeping order and mastering the autocue, he promised
Paul Merton a
coconut instead of a point. Realising the silliness of this statement, he retracted it but Paul insisted on having a coconut. At the end of the show, a stage hand rushed in with a bag of them, giving Boris a chance to say, "Coconuts, from the party that keeps its promises!" He also said that the chances of him becoming leader of the Conservative Party were about as likely as, "being locked in a disused fridge". Paul Merton cheerily told him, "these things do happen."
Boris returned to front
Have I Got News for You in November 2005. He admitted on the show that he once tried to snort cocaine, but sneezed and failed.
The appearances of Boris on the popular show remain some of the most memorable in its long history. Those appearances have earned him a large fanbase, even from audience members of differing political backgrounds.
Paul Merton once said, "Boris Johnson is the person to lead this country back into the 14th century."
Bigley editorial
On
16 October 2004,
The Spectator carried an unsigned editorial comment criticising a perceived trend to mawkish sentimentality by the public. Using British hostage
Kenneth Bigley as an example, the editorial claimed the inhabitants of Bigley's home city of
Liverpool were wallowing in a "vicarious victimhood"; that many Liverpudlians had a "deeply unattractive psyche"; and that they refused to accept responsibility for "drunken fans at the back of the crowd who mindlessly tried to fight their way into the ground" during the
Hillsborough disaster, a contention at odds with the findings of the
Taylor Report. The actual reaction to Bigley's murder in Liverpool consisted of no more than two minutes' silence organised by the city council and a sparsely attended service at
Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral, although overblown coverage and hyperbole was indeed rampant in the media. The editorial closed with: "In our maturity as a civilisation, we should accept that we can cut out the cancer of ignorant sentimentality without diminishing, as in this case, our utter disgust at a foul and barbaric act of murder."
Although Johnson had not written the piece (journalist
Simon Heffer later said he "had a hand" in it), he accepted responsibility for its publication. Conservative leader Michael Howard condemned the editorial, saying "I think what was said in
The Spectator was nonsense from beginning to end", and sent Johnson on a tour of contrition to the city. There, in numerous interviews and public appearances, Johnson defended the editorial's thesis (that the deaths of figures such as Bigley and
Diana, Princess of Wales were over-sentimentalised); but he apologised for the article's wording and for using Liverpool and Ken Bigley's death as examples, saying "I think the article was too trenchantly expressed but we were trying to make a point about sentimentality". Johnson then appeared on a BBC Radio Merseyside phone-in show, in which Paul Bigley (brother of the murdered hostage) told Johnson: "You are a self-centred pompous twit â€" get out of public life." Michael Howard resisted calls to dismiss Johnson over the Bigley affair, but dismissed him the next month over the Wyatt revelations.
It was about this time that sections of the press started referring to Johnson as
"Bozza" (in the mode of
"Gazza",
"Prezza" and other figures whose activities are widely reported).
Association Football
Boris appeared in a charity football match, on 3 May 2006, between English and German "legends" (squads comprising ex-footballers and celebrities) at the
Madejski Stadium,
Reading. The German side won 4-2. Playing for the final 10 minutes, Boris achieved instant notoriety with his extraordinary
tackle on German midfielder
Maurizio Gaudino, where without warning he ran straight at Gaudino from about 10 yards, dropped his head, and clattered Gaudino around the midriff. Johnson later explained his actions: "I'm a
rugby player, really, and I knew I was going to get to him, and when he was about two yards away I just put my head down. There was no malice. I was going for the ball with my head, which I understand is a legitimate move in soccer." Commentators later noted that the referee appeared to agree with Johnson in that Johnson was not even booked for the tackle â€" let alone dismissed from the field of play â€" and that in any case Boris did get the ball (albeit accidentally). While Gaudino went down and took some time to recover, some suggest he may have dived.
*
The New British (HarperCollins, 2007) ISBN 0007172257
*
The Dream of Rome (HarperCollins, 2006) ISBN 0007224419
*
The New British Revolution (HarperCollins, 2005) ISBN 0007172257
*
Seventy-Two Virgins (HarperCollins, 2004) ISBN 0007195907
*
Lend Me Your Ears (HarperCollins, 2003) ISBN 0007172249
*
Friends, Voters, Countrymen (HarperCollins, 2001) ISBN 0007119135
*
Johnson's Column (Continuum International â€" Academi) ISBN 0826468551
*
Counterpunch: Have I Got Views for You (HarperPerennial) ISBN 0007242204
* As a guest presenter on
Have I Got News for You: The Best of the Guest Presenters compilation of
Have I Got News For You, which also contains "The Full Boris" — an extended version of the first edition he hosted.
* Also appears as a guest host on
Have I Got News for You: The Best of the Guest Presenters Volume 2. This DVD also contains a "Full Boris" bonus disc, which lasts almost three times as long as the original broadcast.
*
Spectator â€" leader of
16 October 2004 that started the controversy.
*
Spectator â€" What I should say sorry for by Boris Johnson
23 October.
*
BBC article about the 2004 Liverpool controversy.
*
Independent article from
14 November 2004 on Johnson's sacking.
*
Off The Telly tells the story of Have I Got News for You, courtesy of the show's former webmaster, Matthew Rudd.*
The Dream of Rome, Boris Johnson. ISBN 0007224419.
*
Boris Johnson.com official web site and blog
*
Conservative Party â€" Boris Johnson MP official biography
*
Guardian Unlimited Politics â€" Ask Aristotle: Boris Johnson MP*
Boriswatch: Tracking Boris Johnson Boriswatch: unofficial fansite
*
Boris Johnson Fan Club*
Boris & Bush-Blair-Al Jazeera Memo Domino Brief: Law blog
*
TheyWorkForYou.com â€" Boris Johnson MP*
The Public Whip â€" Boris Johnson MP voting record
*
BBC News â€" Boris Johnson profile
10 February 2005*
Open Directory Project â€" Boris Johnson directory category
*
Honourable Fiend â€" Boris Johnson blog entries
*
VoteBoris.com Political satire, in game form, about Boris
