BORIS JOHNSON IN HISTORY

Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician who is Prime minister-designate of the United Kingdomand has been Leader of the Conservative Party since 23 July 2019. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Uxbridge and South Ruislip since 2015, and was the MP for Henley from 2001 to 2008. He was Mayor of London from 2008 to 2016, and from 2016 to 2018 he served as Foreign Secretary. Johnson identifies as a one-nation conservative and has formerly been associated with both economically and socially liberal policies.

Born in New York City to wealthy upper-middle class British parents, Johnson was educated at the European School, Brussels I, Ashdown House, and Eton College. He read Classics at Balliol College, Oxford, where he was elected President of the Oxford Union in 1986. He began his career in journalism at The Times, but was sacked for falsifying a quotation. He later became The Daily Telegraph's Brussels correspondent, with his articles exerting a strong influence on the growing Eurosceptic sentiment among the British right-wing. He was eventually made assistant editor of the Telegraph in 1994. In 1999, he left the Telegraph to become editor of The Spectator, a role he would hold until 2005.

He was elected MP for Henley in 2001, and largely adhered to the Conservatives' party line during his first period in Parliament. He did, however, adopt a more socially liberal stance on issues like LGBT rights. He was later selected to be the Conservative candidate for the 2008 London mayoral election; Johnson defeated Labour incumbent Ken Livingstone in the election, and subsequently resigned his seat in the House of Commons. During his first term as Mayor of London, he banned alcohol consumption on the city's public transport, and introduced the New Routemaster buses, cycle hire scheme, and Thames cable car. In 2012, he was re-elected Mayor, again defeating Livingstone. During his second term he oversaw the 2012 Olympics. In 2015, he returned to Parliament as MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, stepping down as Mayor the following year.

In 2016, Johnson was a prominent figure in the referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union, becoming a leading figure in the successful Vote Leave campaign. He later declined to run in the party leadership election immediately following the referendum, despite speculation that he would. After Theresa May won the leadership, she appointed Johnson Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. He served in this position for two years, before resigning in protest at May's approach to Brexit, criticising the Chequers Agreement. Johnson subsequently stood in the leadership election that followed May's own resignation, and on 23 July 2019, he was elected Leader of the Conservative Party, and is expected to take office as Prime Minister the following day.^[4]

Johnson is a controversial figure within British politics and journalism. Supporters have praised him as an entertaining, humorous, and popular figure, with an appeal stretching beyond traditional Conservative voters. Conversely, he has been criticised by figures on both the left and the right, who have accused him of elitism, cronyism, dishonesty, laziness, and using racist and homophobic language. Johnson is the subject of several biographies and a number of fictionalised portrayals.