Battered PM mulls leaving politics altogether
Johnson takes weekend to decide on next move – both for his family and his career as an ex-PM
IN THE grand surroundings of Chequers that were enjoyed by 19 of his predecessors, Boris Johnson is considering his political future.
The Prime Minister has retreated with his wife, Carrie, and their two children to the 16th-century grace-andfavour home in the Buckinghamshire countryside that they will soon lose the privilege of using.
After a week that saw him forced out as Conservative leader, Mr Johnson is thinking of leaving politics altogether. But following a run of by-election defeats in Tory seats, Mr Johnson has decided he cannot force a by-election in his constituency of Uxbridge and South Ruislip.
Two well-placed sources said he is deciding whether to follow in the footsteps of his predecessor, Theresa May, and seek to remain in the Commons, or to stand down at the next election.
Mr Johnson has taken the betrayal of many of his own ministers “in sorrow, not in anger”, and is described by aides as mournful he cannot finish the job he set out to achieve in 2019.
Now he may, instead, choose to return to the writing and after-dinner speaking that provided him with a lucrative income before he joined the Tory front bench in 2016.
“He’s taking this weekend to think about it. I don’t think he’s decided yet,” said one insider. Another said: “He is taking stock and seeing where we are. He is not standing down now, but that’s not saying he will stand again.”
His moment of defeat came on Thursday morning. Although his wife had “recognised the reality of the situation” the day before, after “seeing where things were going”, she insisted the final decision must be her husband’s, according to those close to her.
The Prime Minister rose early and wrote his resignation speech. After later delivering it, he returned inside, where he was greeted by his son Wilfred and a core group of remaining supporters.
“If you look at the MPs who came to Downing Street in the end, that’s a group of people who thought he was f---ed over,” said one ally. “And they’re probably the sort of people who will go to Hell and back for him.”
As they filed into Mr Johnson’s office for a lunch of supermarket sandwiches, and staff took photographs with him, those MPs present felt a “sad inevitability” about his departure.
“People were saying the party is making a mistake, but also that Boris was self-destructive,” said a source. “That’s the kind of sadness of it all. Boris was self-destructive and almost goaded MPs into doing it by this point.”
According to those around him, one of the most “stressful” questions Mr Johnson now faces is where he and his young family will live when they move out of their painstakingly renovated flat above No 11 Downing Street and lose access to Chequers.
Mr Johnson’s own country home in Oxfordshire is rented out, and new tenants have just moved into the south London house he bought with his wife before taking office in July 2019.
A Westminster source joked darkly
‘Johnson’s a global brand. He’ll be in demand. I can see audiences from the US to Asia in the palm of his hand’
that it is a shame that the Government has banned landlords from evicting tenants without good reason, as it might now stop Mr Johnson from finding somewhere to live.
At his Oxfordshire farmhouse yesterday there was no sign of removal vans or any suggestion the current tenants have been asked to move on.
There is concern that Camberwell, a Labour stronghold, would be a miserable place for the pair to live after leaving office. “I do not want him to move to bloody Camberwell,” said an ally.
“I’m sure the house is nice but it just doesn’t feel right, him living there surrounded by people that hate him. I think he’d be better off going to Oxfordshire.”
Another consideration for the couple is what Mr Johnson will do for work when he has left Downing Street.
The Prime Minister’s financial woes are no secret, following the “wallpapergate” incident that saw Lord Brownlow donate money to pay for a luxuriant renovation of the No11 flat. Mr Johnson will lose his ministerial salary that tops up his earnings as an MP from £84,144 to £164,080.
But he will regain the ability to make money outside Parliament, and may consider returning to a lucrative career writing books and delivering speeches.
Hodder and Stoughton, the publisher, is reportedly still waiting for a manuscript from Mr Johnson on the life of Shakespeare, which had been intended for publication to coincide with the 400th anniversary of the Bard’s death in 2016.
The book deal came attached to an £88,000 advance, but the publisher later “agreed that we would delay publication until a more suitable time” following Mr Johnson’s appointment as foreign secretary.
Guto Harri, his director of communications, denied rumours that he had been keeping notes from his five months in Downing Street with the intention of publishing a memoir.
Sir Tony Blair’s memoir, A Journey, is thought to have earned him up to £5 million, while his spin doctor Alastair Campbell wrote an eight-volume diary about his time in office and beyond.
Another option would be for Mr Johnson to return to after-dinner speaking, which previously earned him up to £50,000 in a single evening.
“Like most of his predecessors, he’ll be in great demand outside his own country,” said his former agent, Jeremy Lee. “In commercial terms, Johnson’s a global brand with a reputation for colourful speeches – I can see audiences from the US to Asia in the palm of his hand.”
A Government source added wryly: “If Theresa May is making 60 grand per speech, then I think Boris will probably be OK.”
There are those who still believe Mr Johnson has not made his last political move. Last night a spokesman was forced to deny rumours that he intended to stand again for the leadership, despite the Conservative Party’s own rules banning those who have resigned from running again.
“I kind of want him to come back, almost like Trump,” said one supporter. “I think it’d be great.”
Privately, Mr Johnson is said to be sanguine about the abrupt end to his premiership and his uncertain future.
Reflecting on his demise, he joked with colleagues that he will fight on like a “Japanese holdout” who fought on after the end of the Second World War.
“I wouldn’t describe him as down or hangdog,” said a colleague. “He’s been very upbeat, all things considered.”