The Fall of Boris Johnson: The Full Story

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After reading the first volume of Margaret Thatchers biography, I thought I'd read a more modern book concerning a Prime Minister. I must admit I got this book purely on the basis that it was about Boris Johnson. Yes, it's not a book that is from his better days but it is a necessary read. An entertaining and illuminating fly on the wall romp through Boris Johnson's final nine months, where the fly, Seb Payne, must frequently have thought he was on hallucinogens. It's more fun than a Downing Street party and contains a suitcase full of news. A firm friend of Johnson, who in public would be considered one of his most prominent allies, reached a bleaker conclusion: ‘He’s a columnist, right? Columnists are used to writing their column, forgetting it and moving on to the next one. And you can’t as a national leader operate in that way. You have to follow through… He never made a transition from being someone who could entertain and attract attention and emotionally connect to the hard work of being Prime Minister. He was ill-disciplined.’

There are, however, three stories grounded in fact that are worth retelling when it comes to the question of Sunak, his allies and their role in Johnson’s fall. One involved a man known to almost nobody outside Westminster: Dougie Smith. The Scot had been a constant feature behind the scenes in the long Tory run in government since 2010, variously described in press cuttings as a political fixer and a modern-day Machiavelli. Boris grew to rely on Smith to sort out political problems, according to Number 10 insiders. But Smith was also close to Sunak. He had helped Sunak get selected as the Tory candidate for Richmond (Yorks) for the 2015 election. A Sunak ally said Smith had been ‘continually supportive’ and was ‘definitely a friend’. Which makes what followed so intriguing.We did change the course of international opinion," believed one insider. A former cabinet minister argued that only Boris could've pulled it off: "He took on the blob" of policy orthodoxy "and won, it was a shame he could not do it on other matters, too." Before starting this book I thought that it might have been published too soon. Unfortunately, I was proven partially correct. The catalogue of horrors overseen by him and his regime are well documented here: trying to change the rules of ministerial conduct for Owen Paterson who was unapologetic in his flouting of them for personal gain, the "partygate" scandals where he and others gleefully broke the COVID rules that they had put in place then repeatedly lied about them to the apparent final straw for his party when he again lied about and sought to protect Chris Pincher ("Pincher by name, pincher by nature" apparently falling from his lips as he joked about this serial sex predator). The fact that it took so long for enough to be enough is appalling, as is the fact that the most odious and fawning apologists for him (Jacob Rees-Mogg et al) never got there at all. And yet it’s actually the chapter on Ukraine that is the most revelatory, for it tells the story of when Boris got it right. He was decisive. He cut through the red tape. His issue knowledge was exceptional: one Foreign Office advisor recalled that when they studied the maps “Boris knew where everything was - the villages, historical monuments, it fitted into a particular part of his brain.” And for a man dismissed as “wanting to be liked”, he was unyielding in his diplomacy, convincing sceptical leaders that the only acceptable strategy was “Ukraine must win”.

Westminster is a place of outsized egos, something Johnson could be forgiving about, according to allies. After all, he had always been an obsessive competitor himself. When playing one Cabinet minister’s nine-year-old son at tennis, he insisted on marking the score after every point. Aides who had played on the court at his Oxfordshire cottage joked that he used old balls scrubbed of fuzz to obtain an advantage. And he had once been so determined to gain the upper hand as London mayor that he snatched David Cameron’s notes off the table during talks, prompting a schoolboy-like tussle. During the countless internal debates about pandemic policy that followed, the pair were often of similar mind. But as the crisis eased with the mass rollout of vaccines in early to mid-2021, the focus turned to how to manage the post-pandemic economy. Johnson, with his populist instinct, was a big spender, having vowed to end austerity and seeing pound signs as the easy way out of many political binds. Sunak had a firmer ideological commitment to traditional low-spend, low-debt and ideally low-tax Tory economics, seeing fiscal prudence as the way forward.Payne, employing insights gleaned from a variety of actors, paints a picture of utter chaos and confusion. Johnson, not helped by his frequent absences struggled greatly with the demands of his job and his usual immunity from consequences. Factor in some appalling decisions such as partygate and the Chris Pincher affair and it's more of a surprise that he endured as long as he did than that he was forced out. The act would cast a long shadow over the Conservative Party. ‘Boris betrayer’ would be the tag stapled on to Sunak, with consequences in the leadership race that would follow. A year on, Johnson allies would still be pointing the finger of blame his way when explaining Boris’s ‘ouster’.

Boris Johnson’s resignation as prime minister is not just a portentous political event. His time in office – and the nature of his departure – throw up vital questions about democratic values and institutions.His government was always reactive, rather than proactive. His only two successes were reactions to issues as they came up. Where was the proactive policymaking to deliver on the 2019 manifesto? Instead time was spent trying to privatise C4 and dealing, every day, with the scandals that the government failed to control. Sebastian Payne, a journalist for the Financial Times offers us a splendid overview of the events which precipitated the downfall and defenestration of Boris Johnson. Entertaining...this is an essential book for anyone who seeks to understand [Johnson]. Gimson has a profound understanding of the character and urges of his subject... peppered with brilliant observations...A book that is elegant, wise and full of waspish delight...much to entertain, amuse and provoke thought.' Wilson makes his observation over lunch with Payne in his local pub. Their conversation is one of countless enlightening discussions in the book, which take place amid various levels of Covid restrictions in art galleries, pubs, cafes and community centres. Payne’s passion and personal engagement with his subject seems to charm many of his interviewees into opening up in fascinating ways. Labour’s crisis in the red wall, and the party’s attempts to resolve it, will shape the future of English politics. This engrossing, warm and insightful work is an indispensable guide to how it came about. Jeremy Corbyn with former Blyth Valley MP Ronnie Campbell at a 2017 election campaign event. Campbell lost his seat in 2019, having been Blyth’s MP for 32 years. Photograph: Scott Heppell/AFP/Getty Images