Boris Johnson

At 60 years old, Boris Johnson has this physical status:

Early career

Johnson and Mostyn-Owen were married in West Felton, Shropshire, in September 1987, followed by a duet for violin and viola Allegra e Boris, who was specially ordered for Hans Werner Henze's wedding. They retired in West Kensington, west London, after a honeymoon in Egypt, when David Lloyd gained work for a management consultancy firm called L.E.K. After a week, he resigned as a consultant; he resigned after a week. He began working as a graduate trainee at The Times in late 1987, owing to family connections. Scandal erupted when Johnson wrote an article for the newspaper about Edward II's palace's archeological dig, but he erroneously attributed to historian Colin Lucas, his godfather. After the editor Charles Wilson learned of the situation, he dismissed Johnson.

Johnson gained employment on The Daily Telegraph's leadership-writing staff after meeting Max Hastings, the newspaper's editor, during his Oxford University Union presidency. His essays appealed to the newspaper's middle-class, middle-aged "Middle England" audience, were known for their distinctive literary style, abundant with old-fashioned words and phrases, and for regularly referring to the readership as "my friends." Johnson was appointed to the Brussels bureau of the newspaper to cover the European Commission in early 1989, and remained in the post until 1994. Jacques Delors, a strong critic of the integrationist Commission President, grew to prominence as one of the city's few Eurosceptic journalists. He wrote essays about euromyths such as the EU's decision to prohibit prawn cocktail crisps and British sausages, as well as standardizing condom sizes because Italians had smaller penises. Brussels had hired sniffers to ensure that Euro-manure odors remained the same, and that the Eurocrats were going to set the acceptable banana curve and vacuum cleaner strength limits, as well as the instructions for women to return their old sex toys. He said that euro notes made people impotent, that euro coins made people sick, and that a scheme to demolish the Berlaymont building was not feasible because asbestos cladding made the building too fragile to live. Many of his colleagues' journals were critical of his writings, arguing that they often contained lies intended to discredit the commission. Later that year, Europhile Centrist politician Chris Patten said Johnson was "one of the top proponents of fake journalism" in Europe. Following the Dunblane school massacre, Johnson condemned handgun control, writing in his column "Nanny is confiscating their toys." It's similar to one of those massive Indian programmes of compulsory vaping.

Andrew Gimson, a British biographer, said these papers made him "one of [Euroskepticism's] most popular exponents." According to later biographer Sonia Purnell, who served as Johnson's Brussels deputy, he contributed to make Euroskepticism "an exciting and emotionally resonant cause for the Right," although it had never been associated with the British Left. Johnson's columns established him as the Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's favorite journalist, but her replacement, Europhile John Major, who spent a considerable amount of time debating what Johnson said, was outraged. Johnson's books contributed to tensions between the Conservative Party's Eurosceptic and Europhile groups. As a result, he acquired mistrust of several party members. His books were also a major factor in the formation of the EU-opposing UK Independence Party (UKIP) in the early 1990s. Johnson "was such a good reporter for us in Brussels that he dramatically influenced British opinion regarding the country's relations with Europe," Conrad Black, then-editor of The Daily Telegraph, said.

Allegra left Johnson in February 1990; after several attempts at reconciliation, their marriage was ended in April 1993. Marina Wheeler, a childhood friend, who had migrated to Brussels in 1990, and they were married in May 1993 at Horsham, Sussex, shortly after which Marina gave birth to a daughter. Johnson and his new wife settled in Islington, north London, an area notorious for its links with left-liberal intelligence. Johnson took a more liberal approach to topics such as climate change, LGBT rights, and race relations under the influence of this culture and his wife. The couple had three more children when they arrived in Islington, and they were all named Johnson-Wheeler. They were first sent to the local Canonbury Primary School and then to private secondary schools. Johnson, who was devoting a lot of time to his children, wrote Perils of the Pushy Parents – A Cautionary Tale, which was released to mainly critical reviews.

Hastings refused to be a war reporter again in London, instead promoting him to the position of assistant editor and chief political columnist. Johnson's column was recognized for being both ideologically diverse and specifically written, and he was named a Year of the Year Laureate at the What the Papers Say awards for being a Commentator of the Year Award. Some commentators slammed his writing style as bigotry; in several columns, he used the words "piccaninnies" and "watermelon smiles" when referring to Africans, argued for European colonialism in Uganda, and referred to gay men as "tank-topped bumboys."

Johnson, who had been involved in politics in 1993, outlined his desire to run as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) in the 1994 European Parliament elections. Andrew Mitchell persuaded Major not to oppose Johnson's candidacy, but Johnson could not find a constituency. He then turned his attention to winning a seat in the United Kingdom House of Commons. After being refused as a Conservative nominee for Holborn and St. Pancras, his party selected him for Clwyd South in north Wales, first a Labour Party safe seat. He gained 9,091 votes (23 percent) in the 1997 general election, losing to Labour candidate David Cameron in six weeks of campaigning.

Scandal broke out in June 1995 when a video of a 1990 phone call between Johnson and his buddy Darius Guppy was released. Guppy said in the interview that his criminal dealings involving insurance fraud were being investigated by News of the World journalist Stuart Collier, and that he begged Johnson to provide him with Collier's private address, threatening to have the former beaten to the extent of "a few black eyes and a cracked rib or something like that." Johnson decided to hand over the information, but he was concerned that he would be associated with the attack. Johnson said he had not obliged Guppy's request when it was published in 1995. Hastings reprimanded Johnson but did not dismiss him.

In The Spectator, The Daily Telegraph's sister publication, which attracted mixed reviews and was often thought rushed, Johnson was given a regular column. In 1999, he was also given a column in the magazine GQ reviewing new cars. Johnson's behavior regularly offended his editors; the large number of parking fines he received while driving cars offended GQ workers. He was consistently late to publish his copy, causing some employees to remain late; some said that if they did not publish without his name, he would get angry and yell at them with expletives.

Johnson's appearance on the BBC's satirical current affairs programme Have I Got News for You in April 1998 earned him national recognition. Johnson was invited back to later episodes, as a guest host; for his 2003 appearance, he was nominated for the BAFTA Television Award for Outstanding Entertainment Achievement. Since those appearances, he was able to be recognized on the street by the public and was invited to appear on other television shows, including Top Gear, Parkinson, Breakfast with Frost, and Question Time.

Conrad Black donated The Spectator's editorship in July 1999 on the condition that he abandon his parliamentary ambitions; Johnson accepted it. Although maintaining The Spectator's traditional right-wing bent, Johnson acknowledged contributions from leftist writers and cartoonists. The magazine's circulation increased by 10% to 62,000 under Johnson's editorship, and it began to turn a profit. His editorship drew criticism, with some suggesting that under him, he avoided serious subjects, while others became alarmed that he was regularly absent from work, meetings, and events. He earned a reputation as a poor political pundit due to ineffective political forecasts in the magazine. Charles Wheeler, his father-in-law, and others have been chastised for encouraging Spectator columnist Taki Theodoracopulos to publish racist and antisemitic words in the journal.

Charlotte Edwardes of The Times alleged that Johnson squeezed her thigh at a private lunch in the Spectator's offices in 1999, and that another woman had told her the same thing. The allegation was denied by a Downing Street spokesperson.

Liverpudlians were wallowing in their victim status and then "hooked on grief" over the Hillsborough tragedy, which Johnson partly blamed on "drunken supporters." Tell MAMA and the Muslim Council of Britain that Islam has caused the Muslim world to be "literally centuries behind" the West in an appendix to a later version of his Roma book about the Roman empire.

Following Michael Heseltine's resignation, Johnson voted for Henley, a Conservative safe seat in Oxfordshire. He was chosen by the local Conservative party, but it was split on Johnson's candidacy. Some found him amusing and charming, but others disliked his casual attitude and a lack of knowledge of the local area. Johnson, who was boosted by his television fame, secured the seat in the 2001 general election with a majority of 8,500 votes. Johnson bought a farmhouse outside Thame in his new constituency, as well as his Islington home. Henley was a regular attender of Henley's social events and occasionally wrote for the Henley Standard. His constituency surgeries were highly successful, and he ran for office in order to prevent the closing of Townlands Hospital and the local air ambulance.

In Parliament, Johnson was nominated to a standing committee examining the Proceeds of Crime Bill, but he missed many of its meetings. Despite his reputation as a public speaker, Johnson's remarks in the House of Commons were generally dismissive; Johnson later described them as "crap." He received only over half of the Commons votes in his first four years as an MP, but in his second term, it dropped to 56%. He usually supported the Conservative Party of Government but in this period he rebelled against it five times. He had a more socially democratic attitude in free elections than many others who favor the Gender Recognition Act 2004 and Section 28's repeal of Section 28. However, Johnson had spoken out against plans to abolish Section 28, saying that it was "Labour's appalling scheme, encouraging the teaching of homosexuality in schools." After initially saying he would not vote in favor of the government's plans to join the US in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, he invaded Baghdad in April 2003. In August 2004, he endorsed unsuccessful impeachment charges against Prime Minister Tony Blair for "high crimes and misdemeanours" relating to the war, and in December 2006, he referred to the invasion as "a monumental error and misadventure."

Although labeling Johnson "inefably duplicit" for abandoning his pledge not to become an MP, Black decided not to dismiss him because he "aided promote the magazine and raised its circulation." Johnson remained editor of The Spectator, as well as writing columns for The Daily Telegraph and GQ and making television appearances. Friend, Voters, Countrymen, a 2001 book by Robert Gordon recounted the year's election, as well as Lend Me Your Ears' collection of previously published columns and papers. Harper Collins' first book, Seventy-Two Virgins: A Comedy of Errors, revolved around a Conservative MP's life and contained various autobiographical elements. Winston Churchill and Benjamin Disraeli were exemplars who combined political and literary careers, responding to critics who claimed he was juggling too many jobs. He started running and cycling, and Gimson became well-known for the former that he was "perhaps the most popular cyclist in the United Kingdom."

Following William Hague's departure as the party's leader, Johnson endorsed Kenneth Clarke's nomination as the only candidate capable of winning a general election; the party elected Iain Duncan Smith. Johnson had a tense friendship with Duncan Smith, and the Spectator became critical of his party's leadership. Duncan Smith was fired from his position in November 2003 and replaced by Michael Howard; Howard voted Johnson to be the most popular Conservative politician in the country, and named him vice-chairman of the party, which is in charge of governing the party's electoral campaign. Howard promoted Johnson to the position of shadow arts minister in his Shadow Cabinet reshuffle in May 2004. Howard ordered Johnson to apologize publicly in Liverpool for publishing a Spectator article, anonymously written by Simon Heffer, acknowledging that the crowds at the Hillsborough tragedy contributed to the tragedy and that Liverpudlians had a preference for dependence on the welfare state.

Since 2000, tabloids announced that Johnson had been having an affair with Spectator columnist Petronella Wyatt, resulting in two terminated pregnancies. The allegations were first described by Johnson as "an inverted pyramid of piffle." Howard begged Johnson to resign as vice-chairman and shadow arts minister for publicly lying, but Howard dismissed him from those positions after Johnson was confirmed. Who's the Daddy, a comedy by Toby Young and Lloyd Evans, who appeared at Toby Young and Lloyd Evans' King's Head Theatre in July 2005, mocked the scandal.

Johnson was re-elected MP for Henley in 2005, boosting his majority to 12,793. Labour swept the election and Howard stood down as the Conservative leader, though Cameron supported David Cameron as his successor. After Cameron was elected, he named Johnson as the shadow higher education minister, acknowledging his student fame. Johnson, who is interested in downsizing university funding, approved Labour's proposed top-up fees. He ran in 2006 to become the University of Edinburgh's Rector, but top-up fees cost him his campaign, and he finished third.

The News of the World said in April 2006 that Johnson was having an affair with journalist Anna Fazackerley; the pair did not comment, and Johnson shortly thereafter began employing Fazackerley. In a charity football match last month, he attracted even more public attention for rugby-tackling former footballer Maurizio Gaudino. The High Commission in Papua New Guinea protested after he compared the Conservatives' often shifting leadership to cannibalism.

Andrew Neil, the current editor of The Spectator, dropped Johnson as editor in 2005. Johnson negotiated with The Daily Telegraph to increase his annual subscription from £200,000 to £250,000, averaging at £5,000 per column, each of which took up around an hour and a half of his time. The Dream of Rome, a popular history television show, was broadcast in January 2006; a book followed in February. After Rome, a sequel focusing on early Islamic history was released. He earned £540,000 in 2007, making him the UK's third-highest-earning MP of the year.

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