Boris Johnson's Biography

Who is Boris Johnson?

Boris Johnson was born Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson on 19 June 1964 in New York, USA.

His father was a Tory Euro MP. Boris Johnson, like David Cameron went to Eton. He then studied Classics at Balliol College, Oxford and he was President of the Oxford Union.

Boris Johnson worked for The Times (where according to the BBC, his career was cut short when he was sacked for falsifying a quote), and The Wolverhampton Express and Star before joining The Daily Telegraph, where he became EU Correspondent in 1989 and Assistant Editor in 1994.

In 1999, Boris Johnson became the editor of The Spectator, where he had previously written a column and in 2001 he was elected the Conservative MP for Henley-on-Thames, taking over from Michael Heseltine.

In 2003, Boris Johnson became Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party, and in April 2004 he added the post of Shadow Minister for the Arts. However, in November 2004, he was sacked amid allegations surrounding his private life. The Observer outlined the chain of events that led to Michael Howard removing Boris Johnson from the front bench.

The Daily Mail explained how he had originally denied the claims about his affair with Petronella Wyatt and also revised his version of taking cocaine: "He had initially described the allegations as 'an inverted pyramid of piffle'.

"In the GQ interview, Mr Johnson also talked about cocaine. He has previously admitted trying the Class-A drug but said none went up his nose, as he sneezed.

"Now he admits some may have made it through after all. 'I remember it vividly. And it achieved no pharmacological, psychotropic or any other effect on me whatsoever.'"

However, in December 2005, David Cameron appointed Boris Johnson as Shadow Minister for Higher Education and so he resigned his role as editor of The Spectator.

Boris Johnson's books include a novel entitled Seventy Two Virgins.

His hobbies include painting.

Boris Johnson married the barrister Marina Wheeler in 1993 and they had two sons and two daughters. They divorced in 2018.

Boris Johnson achieved widespread popular appeal through his bumbling media performances, most notably as guest presenter of Have I Got News For You, and, in July 2007, he was much touted as a prospective Conservative candidate to fight Ken Livingstone to be Mayor of London. On July 16, 2007 Boris Johnson formally announced that he was entering the race to be the Conservative candidate for London mayor. On 27 September 2007, Boris Johnson was selected to be Conservative candidate for London mayor, after receiving 75% of the 20,019 votes. When the results of the May 1, 2008 election was announced, Boris Johnson was declared Mayor of London.

On 4 June 2008, Boris Johnson made his final appearance in the House of Commons having announced that he was standing down as MP for Henley. On 3 May 2012 Boris Johnson stood for reelection as Mayor and won the vote, when the result was announced late the following day.

In the 2015 general election, Boris Johnson was elected Conservative MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip.

In 2016, Boris Johnson became one of the figure-heads of the successful Referendum campaign for Britain to leave the European Union.

In spite of being the bookies' favourite to take over from David Cameron as the next Prime Minister, Boris Johnson ruled himself out of the Conservative Party's leadership race.

Another surprise came soon after, on 13 July 2016, when the new Prime Minister Theresa May appointed Boris Johnson foreign secretary.

In July 2018, Boris Johnson resigned as Foreign Secretary, unhappy with the Prime Minister Theresa May's approach to Brexit.  The announcement followed closely on the heels of David Davis's resignation.

In June 2019, following Theresa May's resignation, Boris Johnson became a candidate to be the next leader of the Conservative Party.

He came first in all the ballots of Conservative MPs. In the fifth and final ballot he gained 160 votes compared to his nearest rival Jeremy Hunt on 77 and third place Michael Gove on 75. This meant that Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt were the two candidates selected for the Conservative Party's members' vote.

On 23 July 2019, Boris Johnson was elected leader of the Conservative Party, beating Jeremy Hunt by 92,153 votes to 46,656. It meant that he would take over from Theresa May as Prime Minister.

In the General Election of 12 December 2020, Boris Johnson's Conservative Party won a large overall majority.

On 29 February 2020, Boris Johnson and his partner Carrie Symonds revealed that they had got engaged and were expecting a baby in the summer.

On 27 March 2020, he tested positive for coronavirus.

On 6 April the Prime Minister was moved to intensive care at St Thomas' Hospital after his symptoms had got worse.

However, he recovered and on 27 April 2020, Boris Johnson was back at the helm.

Two days later, the Prime Minister and his fiancee Carrie Symonds announced the birth of a son.

After an array of controversies leading to pressure from his own backbenchers and government members Boris Johnson resigned on 7 July 2022 as leader of the Conservative party, remaining as Prime Minister until a replacement had been found.

On 5 September 2022, Liz Truss was elected leader of the Conservative Party and the next day Boris Johnson departed 10 Downing Street.

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