Boris Johnson: The Gambler

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That said, I have enjoyed some conservative commentators’ bewilderment at yesterday’s budget, but cakeism will inevitably turn into no treats for anyone unless he gets a grip. The first half was a good read and showed over and over again the problem with a PM like Boris -- how he charms and how he fails and makes a fool of himself.

He is absolutely unequivocal about Boris being only interested in becoming Prime Minister, lacking views, honesty or loyalty, least of all to his many wives. The book only gets 2 stars for me, as Bower seems seduced by Boris, and biased against experts, elites, Remainers, competitor journalists and the BBC, which is a shame, as with a little more objectivity and balance this would be a very good book. or where he excused false claims made by saying that they were OK because they illustrated a broader point he agreed with (around EU bureaucracy or immigration numbers). His transformation from bumbling stooge on Have I Got New for You to a triumphant Mayor of London was overshadowed only by his colourful personal life, brimming with affairs, scandals and transgressions.This same generosity marks Bower’s description, in two lengthy chapters, of Johnson’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. I felt a sickening sense of incredulity that this could really be happening in our city … I felt ashamed. All this is laid out in the opening chapters, inviting the reader to see the prime minister as the inevitably damaged product of a morally inadequate father.

I was hoping for more detail and insight into Johnson’s own hospitalisation and brush with death as a result of Covid, but all that Bower presents is a rehash of existing information from other sources.

or he might soldier on and end up the hero, buoyed by a strong economic rebound and the victory of the vaccine!

Boris is entertaining and fun, but not a man to lead a country selflessly in a principled and honest manner! This book written by Bower, was completed prematurely at the end of the Summer, before the 2nd wave hit, more dithering and indecision occurred and a failure to learn from the mistakes of the 1st time around has left the country in turmoil. The onetime Telegraph diarist Quentin Letts is struck that Johnson never passed on any gossip: “He doesn’t notice people’s quirks and their embarrassments,” Letts observes, which Bower puts down to Johnson’s “narcissism”: he’s just not that interested in anyone other than himself.

but one who respected the statesmanship, integrity and convictions of Thatcher, Major, Heseltine, and Cameron.