Johnson at 10: The Inside Story: The Bestselling Political Biography of the Year

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We would like to thank Isaac Farnworth and John Paton, but cannot for the life of us remember what you did to help. What motivated Javid and Sunak’s resignations as former and current Chancellors? Did the Chris Pincher scandal prove a step too far or were there other motives to topple Johnson?

‘I am the führer. I’m the king’: new book lifts lid on life

Monster pieces calling for multiple soloists, a lusty chorus and an orchestra almost toppling off the stage... ★★★★☆

Johnson at 10

This is already long enough, but I was interested in personal glimpses of two people who I know a little and a third who I am fascinated by. I knew Martin Reynolds, the Principal Private Secretary to Johnson, when he was a mid-level diplomat in Brussels fifteen years ago. He is more capable than most officials, but was nonetheless out of his depth in the sheer awfulness of trying to manage the Johnson system. On the other hand, John Bew, Johnson’s main foreign policy advisor, is one of the few people to come out of the book looking good; he gave sound advice and wrote a substantive paper on UK global strategy post-Brexit. His father was a colleague of my father’s; I last saw John when he was about ten years old, and I’m glad he is doing well. A myth peddled that he was the best leader given the toughest brief and any failures are to do with others (Trump often blames is failures on his predecessors). Evidence proves his personal floors were such even if he had become PM at the 1st time of asking, it would likely still have been a disaster. He lied about Brexit. In particular he was happy to sacrifice the Good Friday Agreement, international treaties and mislead the Queen without ever having an oven ready plan for Brexit or the skills or ability to make one. He lied to everyone around him: the authors point out it was more the Court of Henry VIII than a modern functioning government. 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.

Anthony Seldon on Boris Johnson: ‘At his heart, he is

Johnson’s eventual solution to getting Brexit done as prime minister was to bring in Cummings to do the work that he had no appetite for, in the full knowledge that his chief adviser was a wholly destructive force. That, Seldon, suggests to me, was another first for British political leadership: The final chapter was gripping as the administration fell and all Johnson's personal failings caught up with him. This was an explosive book! The tell all details of Boris Johnson's short reign as Prime Minister of what was once a first world country but which is now rapidly becoming a third world country, and all deepened by the rule of a short term egotistical man.Sir Anthony Seldon’s verdict on Boris Johnson has made headlines even before his book, Johnson at 10, written with Raymond Newell, is published on Thursday. Here are ten things we learnt from his study of the former prime minister. Appointing capable senior ministers might have compensated for some of his weaknesses. Johnson deliberately stuffed his cabinets with mediocrities who knew they were expected to be “nodding dogs” and whom he disdained as “the stooges”. “We don’t want young, hungry lions”, an aide recalls him saying when Rishi Sunak proved to be a less pliable and more popular chancellor than Johnson had anticipated.

Johnson administration Extracts from new book shed light on Boris Johnson administration

Anthony Seldon and Raymond Newell’s new publication, ‘Johnson at 10: The Inside Story’, documents how one of the most colourful politicians this country has known navigated a number of crises that will define its place in the world for decades to come. Reading this is a sad experience. This is not to make a political point but to reflect how far Boris Johnson's tenure in 10 Downing Street fell short of the demands of office, which is why he fell so spectacularly from power after only three years. How did Johnson despise the Conservative Parliamentary Party with a number of his own MPs doubting he was a Conservative with his high-spending and interventionist views? These are only some of the questions and topics that Seldon and Newell cover in the first of an avalanche of books and research on the Johnson administration:

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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. You may change or cancel your subscription or trial at any time online. Simply log into Settings & Account and select "Cancel" on the right-hand side. The most dispiriting thing about reading the book is that dawning sense that all your worst imaginings about the conduct of that government were, it seems, played out in real time. Seldon argues that the double act in the oven-ready years of prorogation and Barnard Castle really did deserve each other, even if none of us deserved them. Everyone he dealt with sooner or later found him dissembling, because he was only ever willing to commit to a position if he thought there was some immediate personal advantage or because his hand had been forced. One of his officials says he lied “morning, noon and night”. He lied not just to the public, but also and often to his closest associates. We can agree on that much, I suggest. But does he really think that the lessons of Johnson’s government have been learned?

Johnson at 10 by Anthony Seldon, Raymond Newell | Waterstones

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 and wife Carrie on their final day in Downing Street. Photograph: Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images Of his time in the Foreign Office, the book says: “Johnson had forged some important personal relationships that were to bear fruit later, but had learned little of value as foreign secretary about leadership to take forward with him into Downing Street, least of all about the kind of people on whom he would have to rely, and about how to define strategy then to deliver it.” This, we are told, was a “squandered opportunity that was to cost him dear”. BJ was brilliant at feigning ignorance, sometimes to hide when he actually was ignorant. In Sept 2020, when discussing the trade deal, it was starting to dawn on BJ what leaving the customs union meant. “No no Frosty, what happens with a deal?”. Frost replies “PM this is what happens with a deal, that’s what leaving the customs union means”. (A side point, only in 1820 did the US realise that leaving the British empire was beneficial (they left in 1776)). Who knows, Brexit could be beneficial in 50 years? BJ, as written earlier was a very good chair of meetings when he wanted to. At the G7, he had not read his briefing papers, but still managed to survive and almost thrive. This book is a remarkable achievement in political analysis and weaving a comprehensive narrative of Johnson's premiership, which was perhaps one of the most convoluted times in British history. Every section and topic covered had its own breathing room within the chapters, covering the same time period with different perspectives. Richly detailed and impeccably researched, the narrative was woven creatively and analytically without getting bogged down in unnecessary jargon. The problematic power struggles between Cummings, Sunak, Javid and his personal advisers were all laid bare with excellent clarity, and the eventual - inevitable - fall was told with a keen interest in mind.

First night reviews

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. Partygate, the most important of the scandals that finished him, was an appropriate nemesis for such a lawless regime. I think that Johnson and Cummings were what was needed to bring the country to its senses,” he suggests. “People didn’t want things broken up. They wanted to be listened to. They wanted institutions that were more relevant to them. They felt excluded by metropolitan elite. Nobody is happy with what has happened.”