Former British Prime Minister
Brexit, lies – and many fans: Boris Johnson turns 60
Boris Johnson resigned from his mandate in the House of Commons and as Prime Minister of Great Britain about a year ago. Photo
© Tayfun Salci/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
He is probably the most charismatic conservative politician in recent British history, but recently things have been quiet around the populist Boris Johnson. Now he’s turning 60 – will there be a comeback?
His blond hair is artfully tousled as always, his chin is unshaven, his eyes seem a little sleepy. Of course, that’s him: “Hello, guys, Boris Johnson here.” In a video clip, the conservative politician promotes his party colleague Simon Clarke ahead of the British general election on July 4th.
Otherwise, Johnson was not seen much during the election campaign – although his Conservatives are around 20 points behind Keir Starmer’s Labour Party in the polls. There are many Tory members who would like to involve the party’s probably best campaigner in a much more prominent way than with a few cell phone videos. At least, according to the newspaper “Telegraph”, he is now set to sign a letter calling on people to vote for the Tories.
Today, the former Prime Minister and Mayor of London, the populist and repeatedly convicted liar Boris Johnson turns 60.
From large majority to scandals and chaos
In 2019, he led the Conservatives to an overwhelming majority of 80 seats. Johnson is not running in the upcoming election. Just over a year ago, he resigned from his seat in the House of Commons, thus avoiding suspension – he had lied to Parliament.
There is plenty of room for speculation about his reasons for not running for election. It has little to do with the fact that Johnson’s popularity has fallen because of his scandals and the chaos he caused in the government. There are still enough fans.
He is more concerned with making a lot of money from speeches and devoting himself to his book projects, they say. Others suspect that Johnson does not want to be associated with the disastrous election result that the Tories are heading for. What’s more, he wants to see his arch enemy and successor Rishi Sunak fail miserably. This is also why he is supporting Clarke, an outspoken Sunak critic.
Johnson sees the current prime minister, who served under him as finance minister, as a traitor who is to blame for his end in Downing Street. Johnson has never said that specifically, but his allies, such as former culture minister Nadine Dorries, leave no doubt that he thinks so. Sunak, who cannot be picky in view of catastrophic poll ratings, rejoiced on Tuesday: “It is great that Boris is supporting the Conservative Party. I welcome that very much.” He was certain that this would make a difference.
The speaker was surprisingly quiet recently
Johnson lives with his wife Carrie and their three children – he has four grown children from his first marriage to lawyer Marina Wheeler, and a teenage daughter is the result of an affair – in a listed building in the county of Oxfordshire. 36-year-old Carrie Johnson delighted the tabloid media with sweet christening photos of her youngest son Frank on Instagram.
Father Boris recently provoked ridicule because he was initially turned away from the polling station during the local elections. He did not have an ID card with him as required – even though he himself had introduced the law as prime minister. Apart from that, however, there has been surprisingly little talk around the loudspeaker recently.
But political scientist Tim Bale is certain that Johnson will not remain in the political shadows. “I firmly believe that at some point he will try to get back into parliament to lead the party again and somehow make up for the disaster that he represented for the country and the party as prime minister,” the expert from London’s Queen Mary University told the German Press Agency.
“Morally, character-wise and intellectually unsuitable”
What was Johnson’s greatest achievement during his time in office? For him and his supporters, it was certainly getting Brexit done, no matter what the cost, says Bale. Johnson, who resigned as Foreign Secretary at the time, had become a Brexit spokesman before the 2016 referendum. He didn’t care that he spread alternative facts about Britain’s EU payments without batting an eyelid.
And how does the political scientist himself see Johnson’s contribution? “For me, his achievement is to convince so many colleagues and voters that someone who is morally, character-wise and intellectually so obviously unsuitable for the office of Prime Minister should still get the job,” says Bale. The vehement response is surprising – and shows how emotional the Johnson issue still is in Britain.