Boris Johnson: The Gambler

Product Information

He takes no interest in his children’s upbringing, except to communicate a couple of life lessons: “If you’re working hard, don’t show it … show effortless superiority”; and “Nothing matters very much and most things don’t matter at all. A charismatic person, dearly loved by millions of Britons, has done much to put the UK on the world map, if only for spurious reasons. Indeed, the last 100 pages of the book provide a turgid day-by-day account of how the pandemic affected the UK, often with little reference to Johnson’s role or involvement.

Naturally, Stanley began sleeping with one of the two young women, in full knowledge of his children. Eton and Oxford prepared him well for a frantic career straddling the dog-eat-dog worlds of journalism and politics.

If not forgiven at least there’s a consistent invitation to understand his behaviour in the context of his childhood (including Oxford). I definitely feel as though I know Boris better, but would have preferred for the book to be slightly more streamlined! And it is hard not to hear the Prime Minister’s self-excusing voice sounding throughout the narrative of his life. manner and yes, the father Stanley is a dissolute wastrel and wife abuser, which Boris too has embraced gleefully, but many other people came out of dysfunctional families to do something relevant and useful.

His ascent to Number 10 in the wake of the acrimonious, era-defining Brexit referendum would prove to be only the first act in an epic drama that saw him play both hero and villain - from proroguing parliament to his controversial leadership of the Covid-19 Crisis, all against the backdrop of divorce, marriage, the birth of his sixth child, revolts among Tory MPs and the countdown to Brexit. He won the 2003 William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award for Broken Dreams, an investigation into corruption in English football.His advisors were shit, the scientists were constantly wrong, and his cabinet was full of idiots (okay that might actually be true). Bower takes pains to let you know he is super not party-biased, honest in his earlier Tony Blair book. A far worse biographical blunder is that other people and events may have been misrepresented and I fear the publishers should brace themselves for letters from people I know. Hopefully the author will publish an updated account when the paperback comes out and then follow up with part two at a later stage of Boris’s career. His self serving, self centred approach to do all to 'help Boris' succour his ambition has led to unimaginable consequences to the people of the UK and the UK itself.