If Johnson understood more about classical philosophy, he’d have recognised that an antithesis – being against something – isn’t enough. The country now needs a synthesis from whichever party. The great prime ministers are healers and teachers. They need to be able to tell a story of where they have come from and to where they will lead us.” Given this book was published in May 2023, I expected a hatchet job. It is anything but - rather it is a careful and even-handed account of Johnson's period as PM. The author's fifth such account, having done the same for Blair, Brown, Cameron and May. It is a mixture of journalism and history, with the emphasis (to its credit) on the second. Survival by divide and rule and the blame game - even “her upstairs” got to carry the can from time to time! Weak and needy, hence the plethora of advisers, some more dysfunctional than others. Comparisons with other PMs, especially Lloyd George, though the authors see Johnson as a very poor second to the Welsh wizzard. Boris Johnson said that the pandemic was “nature’s way of dealing with old people”, the Covid inquiry was told yesterday as his former aide laid bare the chaos and toxic in-fighting at the heart of government. Dominic Cummings said that “pretty much everyone” referred to the former prime minister... Boris Johnson said that the pandemic was “nature’s way of dealing with old people”, the Covid inquiry was told yesterday as his former aide laid bare the chaos and toxic in-fighting at the heart of government. Dominic Cummings said that “pretty much everyone” referred to the former prime minister... Boris Johnson said that the pandemic was “nature’s way of dealing with old people”, the Covid inquiry was told yesterday as his...

Johnson at 10 (Audio Download): Anthony Seldon, Raymond Johnson at 10 (Audio Download): Anthony Seldon, Raymond

To those many people who say, ‘Of course he believed in Brexit’, the evidence is absolutely clear,” Seldon says. “From the beginning it was striking that he believed that there was a cause far higher than Britain’s economic interests, than Britain’s relationship with Europe, than Britain’s place in the world, than the strength of the union. That cause was his own advancement.”

Ultimately he lied to himself. He was a man who could not cope with more than 3 slides of information, which he invariably forgot. The King of the World ended up without a horse and stranded by history. He had no clue how to be an effective prime minister and no idea what he wanted to do with the role other than satisfy his lust for its status and perks. One of his cabinet ministers, who was also a friend, is quoted saying: “Boris absolutely loved being prime minister, its prestige and the trappings. He revelled in it… His philosophy on the way up had been to do, pledge, say anything to get over the line because I’m the best, I deserve it. Now I’m here in No 10 without any core beliefs, I can do and say whatever I need to remain here.” Johnson deliberately stuffed his cabinets with mediocrities who knew they were expected to be “nodding dogs” This book is truly an eye opener as to the inner workings of a government in crisis from the day Johnson came into power, a man in his own eyes who could do no wrong or make no wrong decisions, instead he was making them daily. History will not remember him kindly, nor should it, as I said in my first sentence we are a country now lower in world statistics in virtually all areas since Johnson was elected to power. The conservative party are still in disarray even though he has left. The next government whoever it may be has a very very long road to go down to bring us to where we were a decade or so ago, and with no extra money in the pot. I am now so disillusioned with government and democracy as I cannot see which political party can get us out of the mess that was Boris and take us forward. This is not a book that I enjoyed, not a book to be enjoyed from the viewpoint of my politics certainly because of all of the depressing confirmation that it provided of the failings that Johnson brought into No.10 and the damage it did to our nation. He lied to everyone around him: the authors point out it was more the Court of Henry VIII than a modern functioning government.

Johnson at 10 review – ducking and diving with the PM who

Indeed, Johnson relies heavily on brilliant people around him who by and large lose patience with the operation they have to deal with, if not the man himself. What makes this book so worth reading is that so many of these brilliant people have chosen to talk to Seldon and Newell, some of them unusually on the record. For instance, Graham Brady, chair of the Conservative Party’s 1922 Committee, tells the story of a “grovelling apology” from the PM after Cummings banned Johnson from speaking to him. To the bitter end, he blamed everyone but himself for the implosion of his premiership. The authors are right to dismiss that as another of his fictions. Bad King Boris was dethroned because he was and always had been utterly unfit to wear the crown.

You may also opt to downgrade to Standard Digital, a robust journalistic offering that fulfils many user’s needs. Compare Standard and Premium Digital here. During one of many episodes of derangement in Downing Street, Johnson is to be found raving: “I am meant to be in control. I am the führer. I’m the king who takes the decisions.” The would-be great dictator was never in control because he was incapable of performing even some of the most basic functions of a leader. The book describes how after the 2019 election Cummings assumed universal power across government as Brexit and then the pandemic unfolded. (Johnson at one point raged impotently that: “I am meant to be in control. I am the führer. I’m the king who takes the decisions.”) Unwilling to confront his chief of staff directly, it is said that Johnson frequently employed the excuse that he was subject to the “mad and crazy” demands of Carrie, his fiancee upstairs. (In response to the book a spokesperson for Johnson described that allegation as “malevolent and sexist twaddle”.) People we spoke to were afraid of Cummings, personal fear,” he says. “And to an extent of the whole Johnson court. In the seven books I’ve written, we saw some fear of some of the people around Gordon Brown, but this was off the scale. And that’s a deeply unhealthy facet of modern government that you let in people who are using fear as a method of control. Quite a lot of that was misogynistic in what we saw.” The tragedy of that fact was twofold, Seldon argues. For one thing Johnson was a non-starter as a competent prime minister, let alone a great one. The historian numbers nine out of 57 in that latter category (Attlee and Thatcher are the two who make the cut postwar). “The great prime ministers are all there at moments of great historical importance,” he says. “But they have to respond to them well. Chamberlain didn’t; Churchill in 1940, did. Asquith didn’t; Lloyd George did in 1916. Johnson had Brexit, he had the pandemic, he had the invasion of Ukraine and incipient third world war. He could have been the prime minister he craved to be, but he wasn’t, because of his utter inability to learn.” We saw some fear of some of the people around Gordon Brown, but this was off the scale. And that’s a deeply unhealthy facet of modern government