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In December 2019 he secured the Conservative Party its biggest parliamentary majority since Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s. When she failed, Johnson's promise to "Get Brexit done" won him the prime minister's job. Johnson had to watch and wait for three years as May struggled to secure a divorce deal acceptable to both the bloc and Britain's Parliament. Theresa May won a Conservative Party leadership contest and took the top job. The Brexit vote was a triumph for Johnson, but it did not immediately make him prime minister. So, critics said, were the campaign's lies - such as the false claim that Britain sent 350 million pounds a week to the EU, money that could instead be spent on the U.K.'s national health service. His bullish energy was essential to the victory. Johnson's co-leadership of the campaign to take Britain out of the European Union helped the "leave" side secure a narrow victory in a 2016 referendum. Historian Max Hastings, Johnson's former boss at the Telegraph, later called him "a man of remarkable gifts, flawed by an absence of conscience, principle or scruple." It was Brexit that gave Johnson his big chance. As Brussels correspondent for the Daily Telegraph, he specialized in exaggerated stories of EU waste and ridiculous red tape - tales that helped turn British opinion against the bloc, with far-reaching consequences. He was sacked from a senior Conservative post for lying about an extramarital affair. He was once recorded promising to give a friend the address of a journalist that the friend wanted beaten up.
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As a young journalist, Johnson had been fired by The Times of London for making up a quote. Critics blasted his backing for vanity projects including a little-used cable car and a never-built "garden bridge" over the River Thames, and warned he could not be trusted.
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He built a high global profile as cheerful ambassador for the city - an image exemplified when he got stuck on a zip line during the 2012 London Olympics, waving Union Jacks as he dangled in the air. His first big political post, as mayor of London between 20, suited his talents. foreign secretary, but also spent periods on the political sidelines after self-inflicted gaffes. He had held major offices, including London mayor and U.K. A sympathetic biographer, Andrew Gimson, called Johnson "the man who takes on the Establishment and wins." But for former member of Parliament Rory Stewart, who ran unsuccessfully against Johnson for the Conservative leadership in 2019, he was "probably the best liar we've ever had as prime minister." Johnson's selection as Conservative leader and prime minister in July 2019 capped a rollercoaster journey to the top. It was, seemingly, the final blow to the career of one of the most divisive politicians Britain has ever known. Dozens of people were issued police fines, including the prime minister, his wife Carrie Johnson and Treasury chief Rishi Sunak. Revelations of parties in Johnson's Downing Street office while the country was in lockdown in 20 caused outrage and tested the patience of the Conservative Party for its election-winning but erratic leader.Īn investigation by senior civil servant Sue Gray criticized "failures of leadership and judgment" in Johnson's government for allowing multiple rule-breaking gatherings in 20. He took Britain out of the European Union and led the nation during a global health crisis that endangered his own life, but was toppled after flouting restrictions he imposed in response to COVID-19.
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Johnson's career was always one of extremes. But two thumping special election defeats for Johnson's Conservative Party and allegations of sexual misconduct against a senior party official sealed the fate of a politician whose ability to survive scandals was legendary. Johnson urged his party and country to "move on" and focus on the U.K.'s struggling economy and Russia's war in Ukraine. The move came after months of scandal that saw Johnson fined by police and criticized by an investigator's report for allowing rule-breaking parties in his office while Britain was in lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic.
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