Image: Boris Johnson speaks during a press conference at St Ermin's Hotel in London, where he formally announced that he will not enter the race to succeed David Camero But when asked whether he would vote Conservative in the byelection he was hesitant: “Ooh, I’m not too sure yet.” His former press secretary Allegra Stratton was the only staff member to resign, after a video was obtained by ITV News showing her joking about a party in Downing Street that was held in December 2020. His decision to demand his party vote against the suspension of fellow Brexiteer and former cabinet minister Owen Paterson, who had breached paid lobbying rules, caused outrage - prompting an embarrassing U-turn and apology.

The Conservatives were in the electoral wilderness and going through another leadership contest after the resignation of William Hague. In late 1969, the family moved to Maida Vale in West London, while Stanley began post-graduate research at the London School of Economics. [40] In 1970, Charlotte and the children briefly returned to Nethercote, where Johnson attended Winsford Village School, before returning to London to settle in Primrose Hill, [41] where they were educated at Primrose Hill Primary School. [42] A fourth child and third son, Joseph, was born in late 1971. [43] Schooled at Eton, he went on to Oxford University in 1983 to study Classics at Balliol College. He became president of the Oxford Union debating society, as well as a member of the notorious Bullingdon Club.It was a political saviour for Mr Johnson, coming on top of a last minute trade deal with the EU agreed days before the christmas 2020 deadline - his party's poll rating began to surge above the Labour party. The public experience of the sacrifices, tragedies and missed opportunities caused by the pandemic had engendered a sense of shared national duty and responsibility - something which Mr Johnson had actively encouraged by telling people the loss of their own freedoms would "save lives and save the NHS". And on top of that there was a love story - with the prime minister announcing his engagement to former Conservative Party communications aide Carrie Symonds, who was pregnant with his child.

Image: Boris Johnson speaks at a rally with Priti Patel and Michael Gove (right) in Preston town centre, Lancashire, as part of the Vote Leave EU referendum campaignWhen she and a friend left the demonstration and were walking to Oxford Circus she saw two police officers gesturing to her. She did not understand what they were trying to communicate and went over to speak to them. It was a decision his allies have since argued was unavoidable, given the growing strength of UKIP under Nigel Farage, who had eurosceptics in the Conservative Party terrified. In 2015, Johnson criticised then-presidential candidate Donald Trump's false comments that there were no-go zones in London governed by shariah and inaccessible for non-Muslims. Johnson said Trump was "betraying a quite stupefying ignorance that makes him, frankly, unfit to hold the office of president of the United States", [301] becoming the first senior politician in the UK to declare Trump unfit for office, but rejecting calls for him to be banned from the country. [302] Johnson added that he "would invite [Trump] to come and see the whole of London and take him round the city – except I wouldn't want to expose Londoners to any unnecessary risk of meeting Donald Trump". [301] He later called Trump's comments "ill informed" and "complete and utter nonsense", adding that "the only reason I wouldn't go to some parts of New York is the real risk of meeting Donald Trump". [303] In 2016, he said he was "genuinely worried that he could become president", telling ITV's Tom Bradby of one moment where he was mistaken for Trump in New York as "one of the worst moments" of his life. [304] Image: Mr Johnson delivers a speech the 2021 Conservative Party conference. Pic: Reuters/Phil Noble

In July 2021, Johnson announced that most generalised public health restrictions in England would be lifted and replaced by recommendations. This took place despite an increase in cases driven by the Delta variant. [524] [525] Johnson's mayoral campaign focused on reducing youth crime, making public transport safer, and replacing the articulated buses with an updated version of the AEC Routemaster. [9] Targeting the Conservative-leaning suburbs of outer London, it capitalised on perceptions that the Labour Mayoralty had neglected them in favour of inner London. [206] His campaign emphasised his popularity, even among those who opposed his policies, [207] with opponents complaining a common attitude among voters was: "I'm voting for Boris because he is a laugh." [9] The campaign of Labour incumbent Ken Livingstone portrayed Johnson as an out-of-touch toff and bigot, citing alleged racist and homophobic language used in his columns; Johnson responded these quotes had been taken out of context and were intended as satire. [208] The family returned to the UK in 1969, and they settled into West Nethercote Farm, Somerset, Stanley's remote family home in Exmoor. [33] There, Johnson gained his first experiences of fox hunting. [34] His father was regularly absent from Nethercote, leaving Johnson to be raised largely by his mother, assisted by au pairs. [35] As a child, Johnson was quiet, studious, [29] and deaf, resulting in several operations to insert grommets into his ears. [36] He and his siblings were encouraged to engage in intellectual activities from a young age, [37] with high achievement being greatly valued; Johnson's earliest recorded ambition was to be "world king". [38] Having no friends other than their siblings, the children became very close. [39] She does not believe there is much chance for Labour and the Liberal Democrats here, a seat the Conservatives have held since 1970. But Brooke Montgomery, 18, who is doing her A-levels and hoping to go to Cambridge soon, is more positive.Nonetheless, the volunteer, who does not wish to be named, has little patience for the man who arrives in a tight white shirt on his way to work. “It’s not just that you’re going to have to take it off. Also, you might bleed. You idiot.” He was made shadow arts minister in 2004 by Michael Howard, the leader at the time, his first frontbench role. He began by setting out what he described as "the agenda for the next prime minister of this country". Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson was born on 19 June 1964 in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City, [20] [21] to 23-year-old Stanley Johnson, then studying economics at Columbia University, [22] and 22-year-old Charlotte Fawcett, [23] an artist from a family of liberal intellectuals. His birth in the US, a country with jus soli, makes him one of only two British Prime Ministers to have been an American citizen, along with Winston Churchill. [24] [25] Johnson's parents had married in 1963 before moving to the United States. [26] They returned to the UK in September 1964, so that Charlotte could study at the University of Oxford. [27] During this time she lived with her son in Summertown, a suburb of Oxford, and in September 1965 she gave birth to a daughter, Rachel. [28] In July 1965, the family moved to Crouch End in North London, [29] and in February 1966 they relocated to Washington, DC, where Stanley had gained employment with the World Bank. [30] Stanley then took a job with a policy panel on population control, and moved the family to Norwalk, Connecticut, in June. [31] A third child, Leo, was born in September 1967. [32] Ashdown House preparatory school, East Sussex, attended by Johnson from 1975 to 1977

At 25 he became The Daily Telegraph's Brussels correspondent, making his name as a writer with articles questioning and ridiculing laws and directives from the European Commission. Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson HonFRIBA ( / ˈ f ɛ f əl/, [2] born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously was Foreign Secretary from 2016 to 2018 and Mayor of London from 2008 to 2016. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Uxbridge and South Ruislip from 2015 to 2023, having previously been MP for Henley from 2001 to 2008. Johnson was popular and well known at Oxford. [74] Alongside Guppy, he edited the university's satirical magazine Tributary. [75] In 1984, Johnson was elected secretary of the Oxford Union, [76] and campaigned unsuccessfully for the career-enhancing and important position of Union President. [77] In 1986, Johnson ran successfully for President, [78] but his term was not distinguished or memorable, [79] and questions were raised regarding his competence and seriousness. [80] At graduation, Johnson was awarded an upper second-class degree, [81] [82] and was deeply unhappy he did not receive a first. [83] Early career The Times and The Daily Telegraph: 1987–1994 But when reports began to emerge of pandemic parties taking place in Downing Street and in Whitehall, all at times when the rest of the country were unable to do anything of the sort, he and his team repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. He was one of the army of Tory rebels who twice voted down Mrs May's Brexit proposals in parliament, voting in favour only on the third time of asking in March 2019, once the prime minister had already pledged to stand down if Parliament approved her plan.Even among Johnson fans, the Conservatives may have their work cut out. Harvinder Singh, 44, a business analyst from Uxbridge, “quite liked Boris. I’m quite surprised. I wasn’t expecting that. I thought he was going to get through it.” Among other appointments, Johnson made Dominic Raab the First Secretary of State and foreign secretary and appointed Sajid Javid and Priti Patel as the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Home Secretary, respectively.