Johnson signs seven-figure deal for his Downing Street memoirs

BORIS JOHNSON is to give his account of his time in Downing Street after signing a deal for his memoirs thought to be worth a seven-figure sum with Rupert Murdoch’s book publisher Harpercollins.

The former prime minister is likely to start work on the account later this year when he has finished a much delayed biography of William Shakespeare.

Arabella Pike, publishing director at Harpercollins’s imprint William Collins, described the prospect of the book as “a prime ministerial memoir like no other”.

She added: “I look forward to working with Boris Johnson as he writes his account of his time in office during some of the most momentous events the United Kingdom has seen in recent times.”

The book is expected to cover Mr Johnson’s time in government, from his appointment as foreign secretary after the 2016 EU referendum, through the “Brexit wars” in Parliament, to his position as party leader and prime minister in 2019. The so far untitled memoirs will give the definitive account of the 2019 general election landslide, taking the UK out of the European Union in 2020 and the Government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

It will also allow Mr Johnson to give his account of his downfall at the hands of his own MPS last summer, in the wake of the partygate and other scandals.

A close MP ally told The Daily Telegraph last night: “Boris Johnson lives inside lots of people’s heads rentfree, so writing a book will be a good opportunity to put his version of events on the table for the record.”

During his time as prime minister, Mr Johnson, 58, who was a reporter and columnist for The Daily Telegraph for three decades before he entered government, was seen clutching a reporter’s notepad with the date on it, suggesting he will be able to rely on contemporaneous notes.

His memoirs will come after Nadine Dorries, his former culture secretary, publishes her account of Mr Johnson’s downfall, titled