Boris Johnson: The Beast of Brexit

by Heathcote Williams

A Study in Depravity

Genres: Politics, Biography, Nonfiction

Paperback

Published June 1, 2016

About the author

John Henley Jasper Heathcote-Williams was an English poet, actor and award-winning playwright. He was also an intermittent painter, sculptor and long-time conjuror. After his schooldays at Eton, he hacksawed his surname's double-barrel to become Heathcote Williams, a moniker more in keeping perhaps with his new-found persona. His father, also named Heathcote Williams, was a lawyer. He is perhaps best known for the book-length polemical poem Whale Nation, which in 1988 became "the most powerful argument for the newly instigated worldwide ban on whaling." In the early 1970s his agitational graffiti were a feature on the walls of the then low-rent end of London's Notting Hill district. From his early twenties, Williams has enjoyed a minor cult following. His first book, The Speakers (1964), a virtuoso close-focus account of life at Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park, was greeted with unanimous critical acclaim. In 1974 it was successfully adapted for the stage by the Joint Stock Theatre Company.

Reviews

[John Hatley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is essential, possibly required, reading for anyone—friend or foe—who wishes to gain a better understanding of Boris Johnson. Call it a “spoiler” if you wish, but if only half of this book were true (and I have absolutely no reason not to believe it is all true) Mr Johnson would still be far worse than I ever imagined.

[Dominic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliantly written and well researched. If you want to be more annoyed and frustrated by this absolute clown and anyone who still supports him and his bigoted, self centred and dangerous politics and says things like "Yeah but Boris is good for a laugh" I suggest reading this.

Though written before the refurendum in better time, this scathing look at this pompous, upperclass twit of the year and his lying, conniving, dangerous antics is still relevant today now that he has a lot the power he craves.

If you are a fan of Boris, please read this book and look into the sources if you think it is just biased nonsense (it is biased of course, what isn't? But it is definitely not nonsense). Educate yourself for the wellbeing of yourself, your country and indeed the world. He is not a harmless buffoon but a classist, racist, homophobic, sexist, lying bully who cares about no one but himself and would gladly throw you under a bus if he thought there was any chance it may help him.

[Richard Page · Rating 5 out of 5]

To fess up, I quite enjoyed 'Boris the entertainer' back in the day. I once spotted him cycling along Upper Street and someone else also spotted him and shouted "Tory tosser!" from the other side of the road. "That's me!" the mop haired buffoon cheerily shouted back as he pedalled past. A politician who doesn't take himself too seriously, I thought. That was then, but we now know what he's really like. Only we don't he's worse. Read Heathcote William's annihaltaion in 'Boris Johnson: Beast fo Brexit - A Study in Depravity' where he uses Johnson's own words and acts to reveal the monster he really is.

I met William's once, swapped a melting orange and cardamom ice cream cone for a copy of his elephant newspaper - a prototype of what was to become Sacred Elephant. It's good to know the poet has remained true to the trail.

[Harry McDonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

A logical, meticulous, muscled dismantling of the slimy bastard that's currently our Prime Minister!

[Richard Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

An onslaught on Boris Johnson along the lines of Emile Zola's famous "J'Accuse." Heathcote Williams, who has died since writing the book, makes no attempt to be neutral, but he convinced. Like many people I was fooled into thinking Boris Johnson an amusing buffoon, but the book makes clear that he's a dangerous monster who brought about Brexit and may still become prime minister. The book is not coherent and consists mainly of cuttings, some of them witty and insightful, but I'm glad that I read it.

[Timothy Hoff · Rating 3 out of 5]

This overpriced booklet published by the London Review of Books gives Boris the thrashing he deserves. Heathcote Williams (who died in 2017) reminds us twice that Boris weighs 17 stone. That's 238 US pounds on a five foot eight inch frame. Britain's PM should bike more and find a decent barber. With odd-looking blond hair, an impatience with minorities, a fixation with his public image, and a nationalist ideology, Boris resembles America's 45th president, albeit with a larger vocabulary and posher vowels. Truth is shifting and transient for both national leaders.

[Simon Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

By turns amusing, astonishing, and terrifying, this Heathcote Williams (prose) essay about Boris Johnson is an excellent read. It is a direct and full-on character assassination of a type that is rarely published these days - and very rarely done well.

I'm having a bit of a fad at the moment for short books which make powerful, passionate, pointed arguments and this definitely fits that bill.

[Vino Loganathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good insight. Biased.

[Henry · Rating 4 out of 5]

A comprehensive evisceration of the man who would be PM.

[Stephen Morrissey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heathcote Williams offers a brief, witty portrait of, in his telling, the buffoon-cum-prime minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson. Written prior to the Brexit referendum vote, Williams pulls out episodes from the life of Boris that show his allergy to truth, hunger for personal advancement, and willingness to sacrifice consistency and honesty for jumping on the most favorable contemporary political winds.

Across Europe and North America, the post-Great Recession world appears to have spawned a sort of entertainment-populism: leaders wedded to their own selfish advancement and amassing of wealth and power more than any particular policy position, let alone any tethering to fact-based reality.

History remains open at the present moment, as the United Kingdom wobbles between indecision and a no-deal crash-out. According to the narrative constructed by Mr. Williams, truth and selflessness will have little to do with where the UK goes next.