By Henry King, a Final Year Geography student at King’s College London
Just like with the 45th President of the United States, naturally comparable to Mr Johnson through their larger-than-life political personas, bookstores will have an influx in the months to come with testimonials of former aides and staffers looking to sell a few copies. Everyone writing on the former Prime Minister will likely claim to be closer than they really were, and there will probably be a few paragraphs highlighted and zoomed in on a BBC News screen for an afternoon.
His political career is difficult to define, perhaps calling it ‘rambunctious’ would be appropriate, especially as he would naturally use such a term himself. It is this ‘bumbling’ personality that won him considerable personal support within the Conservative Party and the country alike.
Even Mr Johnson, who has either bravely battled on (“getting on with the job”, as we have heard so many times) or fumbled and hoodwinked through, judging by your political persuasion, could not survive the cabinet disassembling before him. The resignation of Sajid Javid MP (Health Secretary) followed by Rishi Sunak MP (Chancellor of the Exchequer) led to an onslaught of Tory Secretary, Minister, PPS and Trade Envoy resignations. Mr Johnson initially brushed off the resignation of two of his most senior cabinet members, but the scandal surrounding allegations against Chris Pincher MP accelerated the PM’s fall in party support. Jon Craig, Chief Political Correspondent of Sky News, included the Pincher allegations as part of a “PPP” acronym, alongside the Owen Paterson lobbying scandal and ‘Partygate’. Together, these represent the greatest stabs in the back in bringing down the classicist Caesar-aspirant.
A force in modern British politics, Mr Johnson has served two terms as Mayor of London (2008-12, 2012-16), before becoming Foreign Secretary (2016-18) and then Prime Minister (2019-21). During his tenure in London, he oversaw the incredibly successful London 2012 Olympic Games, implemented a system of rented cycles around London still colloquially called ‘Boris Bikes’, and was accused of mixing personal-professional interest with US businesswoman Jennifer Acuri. As foreign secretary Boris Johnson presided over the UK reaction to the Salisbury ‘Novichok’ poisonings and strengthened relations with Saudi Arabia (including continuing to sell arms to the Middle Eastern nation accused of causing a humanitarian crisis in Yemen). More recently, Boris Johnson has led the United Kingdom through the Covid-19 Pandemic, with a successful vaccine rollout largely accelerated by the availability of the AstraZeneca jab for over 40-year-olds. With the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Mr Johnson’s UK government has given £3.8 billion in military and economic aid, with many in the country having high personal regard for the politician, including Ukrainian President Zelenskyy.
The eminent moment of his career, though, has to be the successful ‘Leave’ campaign he helped champion in the 2016 Brexit Referendum. Mr Johnson’s legacy as the most successful Tory election winner Margaret Thatcher was founded upon this Leave platform, bringing the UK out of the European Union. This move split the Conservative Party, and as Mr Johnson aimed to be the ‘next Churchill figure’ in British politics, he expelled Churchill’s own grandson from the parliamentary party alongside 20 others for defying him on Brexit policy.
With the Conservative party claiming another victim of their infighting (other notorious ousting’s include Mrs Thatcher and Mrs May), the race is on for another leader, albeit to replace him in September, with Mr Johnson staying on despite calls from Labour for a general election (as per usual from an opposition government). He leaves (or, more accurately, will leave) No.10 having separated the UK from the EU & its single market, with increasing nationalist (SNP) support in Scotland, rising republican (Sinn Féin) support and ongoing economic border issues in Northern Ireland and a ‘cost of living crisis’ across the UK.
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