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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

A ruthless ambition behind bumbling facade

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Instantly recognisable with his mop of blonde hair, Boris Johnson’s bumbling but breezy attitude earned him a string of improbable political victories, including Brexit, but has enraged and offended in equal measure.


The Conservative MP is favourite to replace Theresa May as party leader and prime minister, having proved his pedigree as a winner by being elected twice as mayor of London, a cosmopolitan and normally left-leaning city.


Johnson’s decision to back the campaign to leave the European Union in 2016 was also viewed as a game changer in the push for Brexit. It lost him many friends and he drew criticism for making misleading claims during the campaign.


However, it made him a strong favourite for prime minister when the post opened up in the chaos after the referendum — only to lose out when his main backer turned against him.


His subsequent appointment as foreign minister was a surprise, given his inclination for acting the clown — blundering into a series of diplomatic rows with his seemingly off-the-cuff remarks.


But when he quit after two years in protest at plans to retain close ties with the EU after Brexit, many Conservative activists hailed his decision and he once again moved centre stage.


One of a rare-breed of politicians known simply by his first name, “Boris” was born in New York in 1964 as Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson into a competitive, high-achieving family.


His sister Rachel, a journalist and writer who later went on to stand as a candidate for anti-Brexit party Change UK, told her brother’s biographer that as a child he wanted to be “king of the world” when he grew up.


Boris Johnson won a scholarship at the elite Eton school and read classics at Oxford University, where he was a member of the Bullingdon Club, an all-male dining society known for rowdy behaviour. He became a journalist and was initially sacked from The Times for fabricating quotes. He then worked for The Daily Telegraph, as editor of Spectator magazine and wrote several history books.


He made a name for himself as the Telegraph’s Brussels correspondent mocking the EU’s institutions and rules.


He was among the first to peddle “Euro-myths” about bans on bendy bananas and square strawberries, a style of reporting about the bloc that became -a staple of the British press. Johnson became MP for the then opposition Conservatives in 2001 and was later appointed as the party’s arts spokesman, before being sacked over accusations of lying about an alleged extra-marital affair. — AFP


Alice RITCHIE


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