In 1999 he assumed the editorship of The Spectator, a role that was given to him by proprietor Conrad Black on the condition that he gave up efforts to enter Parliament.īut two years later he was elected MP for the safe Conservative seat of Henley in Oxfordshire. The appearances introduced him to a wider audience and is considered the beginning of the "Boris" persona in the minds of the wider public. It was around this time that the future PM started appearing on the BBC's quiz show Have I Got News For You. Mr Johnson referred to "tank-topped bumboys" in one article, described citizens of the Commonwealth as "flag-waving piccaninnies" with "watermelon smiles", and described working-class men as likely to be "drunk, criminal, aimless, feckless and hopeless". He made a litany of offensive remarks in these columns that would attract scrutiny as he embarked on a political career. When he returned to London five years later, Mr Johnson became a regular Telegraph columnist and began writing for The Spectator. Editor of The Spectator in his office in 2003 Image: Pic: David Sandison/The Independent/Shutterstockīoris Johnson.
#Bitter two farm stands nations divides cracker
"He put rivals off the scent and would then come up with a cracker of a story."ĭuring his time in Brussels he married his second wife, Marina Wheeler. "Boris was very clever at creating an image and downplaying expectations so that colleagues thought he was way off-beam, and didn't know what he was doing," The Times journalist Michael Binyon told Mr Johnson's biographer Sonia Purnell. But this persona disarmed his rivals, leaving them with their guards down.
#Bitter two farm stands nations divides full
His articles may have stretched the truth, but they have since been credited with revitalising the cause of euroscepticism.īrussels contemporaries say this period also saw the "Boris act" in full flow.Įverything - including his clothes, car and flat - were a mess. Readers of the eurosceptic Telegraph lapped it up at a time when the governments of Margaret Thatcher and Sir John Major were grappling with the thorny issue of Europe. There were tales of undersized condoms running afoul of European rules, wonky bananas and bans on prawn cocktail crisps. While in Oxford he met his first wife, Allegra Mostyn-Owen.Īfter graduating he began his career in journalism, joining The Times as a trainee before being sacked for making up a quote in a story.Īt 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. He became president of the Oxford Union debating society, as well as a member of the notorious Bullingdon Club. Schooled at Eton, he went on to Oxford University in 1983 to study Classics at Balliol College. Image: Credit: Pic: Ian Sumner/Shutterstockīorn in New York in 1964, Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson spent the first years of his life moving between countries with his family, as his father Stanley pursued a varied international career.Īt the age of eight, it is said he declared his ambition was to become "world king".
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