How Boris Johnson went from journalist to British Prime Minister

The Dhaka Times Desk Born in New York, USA, Boris Johnson is about to take over as the British Prime Minister. After one and a half years of ups and downs in journalism and political life, he is going to be seated in this position.

Yesterday (Tuesday) the ruling Conservative Party announced the name of the 55-year-old former foreign minister as their new leader.

Johnson, a 'hardline Brexiteer', took over as prime minister after a weeks-long leadership selection process after Theresa May resigned as prime minister and leader of the ruling Tory party last June in a crisis over Brexit.

Johnson had a run-in with current Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt at the final stage. But the party's registered worker-supporters ultimately chose the former London mayor.

The son of former Conservative member of the European Parliament Stanley Johnson and his first wife painter Charlotte Fawcett, Alexander Boris de Pifel Johnson was born in June 1964 in New York, USA.

Johnson, the eldest of four siblings, spent his childhood in New York, London and Brussels. He was deaf. Due to which he had to go to the operating table several times in his childhood. Johnson was relatively quiet at the time, his relatives said.

After attending Eton College in Berkshire on a King's scholarship, Johnson studied classics at Balliol College, Oxford. He was president of the debating organization Oxford Union. He was a member of the Bullindong Club, where his partner was David Cameron.

Father of two sons and two daughters, Johnson married Allegra Mustin Owen in 1987, but their marriage did not last long. In 1993, Johnson tied the knot again with lawyer Marina-Wheeler. Marina is the mother of Johnson's 4 children. They got separated last year after two years.

Apart from the collection of essays 'Lend Me Your Years', Johnson wrote the novel 'Seventy Two Virgins' and the novel 'The Dream of Rome' about the history of the Roman Empire. In 2014, he added the book 'The Churchill Factor: How One Man Made History' written about former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

Johnson's journalistic career

After joining the Times as a reporter in 1987, Johnson lost his job after falsifying a quote.

Johnson served as European correspondent for the Daily Telegraph for 5 years. Then from 1994 to 1999 he served as assistant editor of the same organization.

From 1994, Johnson began writing political columns in the magazine 'The Spectator'. In 1999, he was appointed editor of the magazine. He held this duty till 2005.

While at the Telegraph, Johnson ran for the House of Commons in 1997 as a Conservative candidate for Cloyd South. That year he was defeated by Martin Jones of the Labor Party.

From 1998, Johnson appeared on various television programs, including the BBC's 'Have I Got News for You'. He became a popular face on talk shows due to his embarrassment and sometimes backbiting comments.

The Conservative MP won the 2001 parliamentary election after contesting the Henley-on-Thames seat. Although well-known on television and in the political arena, Johnson's political rise was not very smooth.

He also had to apologize to the city of Liverpool for publishing an editorial in the Spectator. He was also removed from the post of Shadow Industries Minister due to rumors of an affair with a journalist. But none of this stood in the way of his winning again in the 2005 elections.

After two years of running for mayor of London, Boris Johnson won the election by promising to tackle crime and improve communications. He gave the Conservatives a rare victory in the UK capital, defeating Labor's Ken Livingstone by a narrow margin.

In the 2012 election, he again defeated Livingstone and gave relief to the party. Again in 2015, Johnson entered the parliament after winning Uxbridge and South Ruislip seats in West London.

However, Boris Johnson did not stand for the election of the next Mayor of London. Sadiq Khan was elected as the mayor of the city defeating the candidate of the Conservative Party.

Before leaving the mayoralty, Johnson became one of the most influential campaigners for the UK to leave the European Union. Boris Johnson also criticized the European Union's efforts to unite Europe with the efforts of Napoleon I and Adolf Hitler.

After Theresa May became Prime Minister, Johnson was given responsibility for the Foreign Office in her Cabinet. Johnson also remained in the cabinet of May's minority government after losing his majority in the last snap election held in June 2017.