Boris Johnson: The Rise and Fall of a Troublemaker at Number 10

by Andrew Gimson

'Entertaining...essential...peppered with brilliant observations' Tim Shipman, Sunday Times
Andrew Gimson, whose previous book Boris is the essential read on Johnson's earlier career, returns with a penetrating and entertaining new account of Boris Johnson's turbulent time as prime minister, from the highs of a landslide election victory to the lows of his car-crash resignation. 

In Boris The Rise and Fall of a Troublemaker at Number 10, Gimson sets out to discover how a man dismissed as a liar, charlatan and tasteless joke was able, despite being written off more frequently than any other British politician of the twenty-first century, to become prime minister. During his ascent, Johnson benefited from being regarded as a clown, for this meant his opponents failed to take him seriously, while his supporters delighted in his ability to shock and enrage the Establishment. He even changed the language of politics; a new word, ‘cakeism’, entered the English lexicon to describe his implausible but seductive claim during the Brexit negotiations that it was possible to have one’s cake and eat it.

In a series of brilliant vignettes, Gimson sheds light on the parts played by sex, greed, boredom and low seriousness in Johnson’s rise and fall, describes how Partygate fatally imperilled his prime ministership, and places him in a line of Tory adventurers stretching back to Benjamin disreputable figures who often blew themselves up, but who also could display an astonishing ability to connect with the British public.

What kind of a person is Johnson? What kind of a country would dream of making him its prime minister? And why did he fall? Nobody has got closer than Gimson to finding out the answers.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography

445 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 29, 2022

Reviews

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting update but felt it favoured Johnston too much and didn't really examine his weakness

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Andrew Gimson writes for the Daily Mail and, I think, still contributes ot the Telegraph, so you might guess in which direction his political allegiances lie. However, he has chronicled the life of our erstwhile PM in a reasonably balanced fashion and it makes for informative reading.

I wouldn't dare to make any political judgements myself on the pages of GoodReads. Read it yourself and make up your own mind.

[Alastair · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn't put this book down and read it in 3 days. It provides a fair and balanced view of Johnson and events which ultimately lead to his downfall. Rather than stuctured into conventional chapters the book consists of 130 or so vignettes the longest running to 8 pages the shortest to just 6 lines which suited me fine.

Gimson gives a far more balanced view than if at the outset I had attempted to write the book - god forbid it would probably have had a working title of "The rise and fall of a scoundrel at No. 10". The author highlights Johnson's flaws but also his many attributes in terms of intelect, generosity of spirit, loyalty and his great gift as a communicator able to put a shine on almost anything. This is countered by insight into why Johnson has great difficulty in telling the truth, his unwillingness to get involved in detail and into his self serving narcissistic personality plus, strangely, why so many people have been prepared to forgive him for these flaws.
The book concludes that Boris did more than anyone else to blow himself up.

[Roland Glotzer · Rating 4 out of 5]

While it is clear that the author likes Boris Johnson, he has nonetheless made an effort to look at the strengths of Boris Johnson but also acknowledging his weaknesses. He is probably too forgiving of Boris Johnson’s flaws but manages to show him overall as a human being as we all have weaknesses. Unfortunately the standards need to be higher for a leader in terms of integrity, honesty and leadership by example which is not sufficiently stressed by the author.

[Marsilla Dewi-Baruch · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a desirable book to read, especially if you wish to critically learn the foolishness of Boris and factors contributing to his downfall. I reckon you could gather more insights from watching youtube on Boris, than perusing this book.

[Ian Warren · Rating 4 out of 5]

How the f*** did Boris ever get to Number 10….

[Pardis TD · Rating 5 out of 5]

Couldn't imagine anything worse than Hitler, and I was wrong. Robert Fico, Salvini, Raisi, Litvinenko, Navalny, Assange, Zelensky, Cox, Biden, Netanyahu, Trump, Thunberg, Amess, Sweden Securitas, journalists (Khashoggi), jurists in general, ambassadors, previously scientists, the list goes on and on and on. It's so crazy it's unbelievable. The most unbelievable thing is how he did rise, which was through the monopoly of journalism in the English language.