There has been a period of political turmoil in Britain for the last six months. The reason for this has been none other than Boris Johnson, who has announced his resignation from the post of Prime Minister. His opposition in the Conservative Party, which began after his name in the Chris Pincher scandal, ended only after the announcement of his resignation. However, this was not the first scandal in which Johnson was embroiled in controversy after his name came up. Even in his professional life before becoming leader, Johnson has faced many allegations.
The allegations against Boris Johnson while he was a journalist and a politician before becoming PM, included allegations of lying to having illicit relations. Let us know what were the controversies, due to which Boris Johnson’s early career remained tainted …
as a journalist
The association of Boris Johnson and controversies started only after he graduated from college. In late 1987, Boris Johnson started a job in Britain’s prestigious ‘The Times’ newspaper. In an article for this newspaper, Johnson incorrectly linked his statement to historian Colin Lucas. After discovering this, the editor of the newspaper, Charles Wilson, fired him from his job.
The next dispute with Johnson added to his next job. After The Times, he started a job in another popular British newspaper ‘The Daily Telegraph’ through some of his old contacts. In 1989 he was sent to Brussels, the capital of Belgium, for reporting to the European Union (EU). Here he was recognized for his anti-European reporting. Several of his journalist colleagues have alleged that Johnson’s articles are so full of lies and delusion that they try to defame the European Union.
The next milestone in Johnson’s career as a journalist began in 1999 with The Spectator magazine. However, controversies did not leave him here too. In a 2019 article in The Times, journalist Charlotte Edwards wrote that Boris Johnson had touched her inappropriately during lunch at The Spectator’s office in 1999. Charlotte claimed that another woman had also informed her of Johnson’s behavior. However, Johnson had denied these allegations.
The funny thing is that along with being the editor of The Spectator magazine, Boris Johnson contested for the MP’s post and won. Despite being on several committees in the House of Commons, Johnson did not leave the magazine and continued to publish on many issues that disputed party members. In 2004, it was revealed that Johnson had a relationship with magazine columnist Petronella Voyt around the year 2000. It was alleged that Johnson had aborted Wyatt twice. Johnson at first denied these allegations, but after they were proved, Conservative Party leader Michael Howard asked him to resign from his posts. When Johnson denied this, Howard himself fired him.
as a leader
Johnson continued journalism for a long time as a leader. However, after becoming mayor of London, he continued to write columns for the Daily Telegraph. The next controversy with Johnson occurred during this time, when he was asked about the extra earnings from the Daily Telegraph during a show. Actually, Johnson was already getting a salary of millions of pounds while being mayor. In the meantime, while writing columns for the newspaper, he maintained an additional source of income.
The media revealed shortly afterwards that Johnson had an affair with a woman named Helen McIntyre and became a father while still married. Johnson never denied these allegations. While the leader of the Conservative Party, he was also accused of being involved in a scandal related to parliamentary expenses. It was then said that Johnson was spending a lot on personal taxi travel. In addition, his deputy mayor Ian Clement was found guilty of misusing City Hall’s credit card.